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AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 

Edited by 

Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D. 






Zhe amertcan Crisis Bioorapbies 

Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the 
counsel and advice of Professor John B. McMaster, of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

Each i2mo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price 
$1.25 net; by mail, $1.37. 

These biographies constitute a complete and comprehensive 
history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of readable 
and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the co-operation 
of many competent writers, as will be noted from the list given below. 
An interesting feature of the undertaking is that the series is to be im- 

6artial, Southern writers having been assigned to Southern subjects and 
lorthern writers to Northern suojects, but all will belong to the younger 
generation of writers, thus assuring freedom from any suspicion of war- 
time prejudice. The Civil War will not be treated as a rebellion, but as 
the great event in the history of our nation, which, after forty years, it 
is now clearly recognized to have been. 

Now ready : 
Abraham Lincoln. By Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer. 
Thomas H. Benton. By Joseph M. Rogers. 
David G. Farragut. By John R. Spears. 
William T. Sherman. By Edward Robins. 
Frederick Douglass. By Booker T. Washington. 
Judah P. Benjamin. By Pierce Butler. 
Robert E. Lee. By Philip Alexander Bruce. 
Jefferson Davis. By Prof. W. E. Dodd. 
Alexander H. Stephens. By Louis Pendleton. 
John C. Calhoun. By Gaillard Hunt. 
" Stonewall" Jackson. By Henry Alexander White. 
John Brown. By W. E. Burghardt Dubois. 
Charles Sumner. By Prof. George H. Haynes. 
Henry Clay. By Thomas H. Clay. 
William H. Seward. By Edward Everett Hale, Jr. 
Stephen A. Douglas. By Prof. Henry Parker Willis. 
William Lloyd Garrison. By Lindsay Swift. 
Raphael Semmes. By Colyer Meriwether. 
Daniel Webster. By Prof. Frederic A. Ogg. 

In preparation : 
Ulysses S. Grant. By Prof. Franklin S. Edmonds. 



AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 



Daniel Webster 



by 



FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, Ph.D. 

r 

Associate Professor of History in Simmons College, Boston, 
and author of "Social Progress in Contemporary Europe," 
"The Governments of Europe," etc. 




PHILADELPHIA 
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



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Copyright, 191 4, by 
George W. Jacobs & Company 
Published March, 1914 



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PREFACE 

Although in truth one of the most human of men, 
Daniel Webster is, and must remain, for students 
of American history primarily the orator, jurist, and 
statesman; and while in this brief biography an at- 
tempt has been made to convey some impression of 
the personal characteristics of the man, and especially 
of the conditions surrounding his earlier life, space has 
been devoted principally to the multifold public ac- 
tivities by which his ultimate distinction was attained. 
The subject is old, and yet ever fresh. The shelves 
of our libraries groan under the masses of books re- 
lating to it. Yet neglected or largely unused materials 
are still being brought to light j and so intricately do 
the life and work of the man enter into the very 
texture of the nation's history that they are very 
nearly as incapable of full and final interpretation as is 
that history itself. 

In the preparation of the present sketch liberal use 
has been made of the earlier biographies, especially of 
the two excellent ones by Curtis and Lodge, of the 
standard histories, and of monographs. The very 
abundant source materials, however, — chiefly the writ- 
ings of Webster and of his contemporaries, — have been 
the principal reliance. Since the publication, in 1902, 
of Professor Van Tyne's " Letters of Daniel Webster," 
and, in 1903, of the eighteen -volume " National Edi- 
tion" of Webster's " Writings and Speeches," these 
sources have been almost entirely available in print. 
In the bibliography which is appended there is an «mju- 



6 PEEFACE 

meration of the most useful materials of various kinds. 
Iu the foot-notes the title " Works of Webster " is em- 
ployed to denote the six-volume edition published 
originally in 1851, that of " Writings and Speeches " 
to denote the more recent and complete edition. The 
smaller set is likely to be found in many places where 
the larger one is not available, and for this reason it 
has been deemed desirable to give references to both. 

To Professor Van Tyne, who, according to original 
plans, was to have written this volume, I am indebted 
for a number of helpful suggestions and for the use 
of transcripts and other materials gathered by him 
during the preparation of his admirable collection of 
the " Letters." My thanks should be expressed, also, 
for courtesies received from the authorities of the 
Library of Congress, the New Hampshire Historical 
Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the 
Boston Athenaeum. 



Frederic Austin Ogg. 



Cambridge, Mass., 
January 10, 1914. 



CONTENTS 

Chronology 9 

I. Parentage and Youth ... 15 

II. Preparation for the Law ... 35 

III. The Young Practitioner ... 60 

IV. In Congress From New Hampshire 82 
V. Law and Oratory in Massachusetts 110 

VI. In Congress Again, 1823-1827 . . 135 

VII. In the Senate : The Tariff . .163 

VIII. In the Senate : The Hayne Debate 187 

IX. The Contest with Jackson : Nul- 
lification . 225 

X. Public Finance and Whig Politics 256 

XI. Secretary of State : The Treaty of 

Washington 286 

XII. Texas, Oregon, and the Election of 

1844 317 

XIII. The Mexican War and the Compro- 

mise of 1850 343 

XIV. Secretary of State Under Fillmore 376 
XV. The Election of 1852 : Last Phases . 396 

Bibliography 421 

Index 426 



CHRONOLOGY 

1782— January 18, born in the township of Salisbury, in the county 
of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, the second son of Ebenezer 
Webster and his second wife, Abigail Eastman. 

1796 — May, becomes a student at Phillips Exeter Academy. 

1797 — February, begins preparation for college under the tutelage of 
Dr. Samuel Wood of Bosoawen. August, becomes a mem- 
ber of the freshman class at Dartmouth College. 

1800 — July 4, delivers public oration by invitation of the towns- 
people of Hanover, N. H. 

1801 — August, is graduated from Dartmouth College. Begins the 
study of law in the office of Thomas W. Thompson, in 
Salisbury. 

1802 — January, assumes the preceptorship of Fryeburg (Me.) 
Academy. September, returns to the study of law in the 
office of Mr. Thompson. 

1804 — July, goes to Boston and obtains a clerkship in the office of 
Christopher Gore. 

1805 — January, refuses the clerkship of the court of common pleas 
of the county of Hillsborough, N. H. March, is admitted 
to the bar in Boston. Begins practice of law in Boscawen. 

1807 — May, is admitted as a counsellor of the Superior Court of New 
Hampshire. September, removes to Portsmouth, N. H. 

1808 — June 24, marries Miss Grace Fletcher, of Hopkinton, N. H. 
Publishes anonymously " Considerations on the Embargo 
Laws." 

1809— Delivers Phi Beta Kappa oration at Dartmouth College. 

1809-1812 — Absorbed by growing professional activities ; rises to a 
position of eminence at the New Hampshire bar. 

1812 — August, writes the ''Rockingham Memorial." November, 
elected from the Portsmouth distriot to a seat in the Thir- 
teenth Congress. 



10 CHRONOLOGY 

1813 — June 10, introduces resolutions relative to the Berlin and 
Milan decrees. December 22, fire destroys Portsmouth 
home. 

1813-1814 — Aotive in criticism of the conduct of the war by the 
Madison Administration. 

1815 — January 2, speaks on the bill to establish a second Bank of 
the United States. 

1816 — Opposes a protective tariff bill. Challenged to a duel by 
John Randolph. August, removes from Portsmouth to 
Boston. 

1817 — September, participates in argument of the Dartmouth 
College Case before the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. 

1818 — March 10, makes notable argument in behalf of Dartmouth 
College before the United States Supreme Court. 

1820-1821 — November to January, serves as a' member of the con- 
vention to draft a revision of the constitution of Massachu- 
setts. 

1820 — December 22, delivers an oration at Plymouth commemora- 
tive of the coming of the Pilgrims. 

1822 — November, elected to Congress from the Suffolk district. 

1824 — January 19, speaks on the Greek Revolution. April 1-2, 
speaks in opposition to a protective tariff. Deoember, 
visits Jefferson and Madison in Virginia. 

1825 — March, procures passage of the Crimes Act. June 17, de- 
livers first Bunker Hill oration. June-July, excursion to 
Niagara Falls. 

1826 — January 4, speaks in behalf of a reform of the federal judi- 
ciary. August 2, delivers eulogy on Adams and Jefferson. 

1827 — June, elected to the United States Senate. 

1828 — January 21, Mrs. Webster dies. May 9, speaks in support 
of the " tariff of abominations." June 5, is given a public 
dinner in Faneuil Hall. December, brings suit against 
Theodore Lyman for libel. 

1829 — April 10, Ezekiel Webster dies. December, marries Miss 
Caroline LeRoy, of New York City. 

1830 — January 20-27, engages in debate with Senator Hayne on 
the nature of the Union. August-September, participates 
in the Knapp trials. 

1831 — Maroh 10, is tendered a publio dinner at the City Hotel, 
New York. Widely considered as a possible candidate for 
the presidency. Begins the acquisition of land at Marshfield. 



CHRONOLOGY 11 

1832 — April5, submits a reporton the apportionment of representa- 
tives. May 25, speaks on the bill to renew the charter of the 
United States Bank. July 11, speaks on the President's 
veto of the Bank Bill. October 12, speaks at the National 
Republican convention at Worcester. 

1833 — February 1G, delivers the speech " The Constitution not a 
Compact between Sovereign States," in reply to Calhoun. 
Opposes the Compromise Tariff. May -June, makes a visit 
to the Middle West. 

1834 — January-June, makes numerous speeches in the Senate on 
the President's course regarding the removal of the deposits 
and on the subject of a national bank. May 7, speaks on 
the President's protest against the Senate's resolutions of 
censure. 

1836 — January 12, speaks on the claims arising from French 
spoliations prior to 1800. January, is nominated for the 
presidency by the Whig majority of the Massachusetts 
legislature. February 16, speaks on the appointing and 
removing powers of the President. October 12, is presented 
with a vase by the citizens of Boston. 

1836 — January 14, explains the grounds of opposition to the Forti- 
fications Bill of 1835. Receives the eleotoral vote of Massa- 
chusetts for the presidency. December 21, speaks on the 
Specie Circular. 

1837 — January 16, protests against the Expunging Resolution. 
Proposes to retire from the Senate, but is persuaded not to 
do so. March 15, delivers an important speech in Niblo's 
Garden, New York. June- July, makes an extended visit 
to the Middle West. September 28, speaks on the regula- 
tion of the currency. 

1838— January 31 and March 12, speaks on the President's in- 
dependent treasury proposals. 

1839— May 18, sails for a brief visit to Great Britain. July 18, 
addresses the Royal Agricultural Society at Oxford. De- 
cember 29, arrives in New York. 

1840— Supports Harrison and Tyler for the presidency and vice- 
presidency. December 1, receives from General Harrison an 
offer of the State or the Treasury portfolio. December 
11, accepts the secretaryship of state. 

1841— February 22, resigns seat in the Senate, being succeeded by 
Rufus Choate. May-September, watches apprehensively the 
conflict of President Tyler and the Whigs in Congress. 
September, refuses to resign from the cabinet with his 
colleagues. September-October, assists in the settlement of 
the McLeod Case. 



12 CHRONOLOGY 

1842 — June, opens negotiations with Lord Ashburton relative to 
the northeastern boundary and other matters in dispute with 
Great Britain. August 9, signs the treaty of Washington. 
September 30, speaks in Faneuil Hall in defense of his refusal 
to retire from the cabinet. 

1843 — May 8, resigns the secretaryship of state and retires to 
Marshfield. June 17, delivers the second Bunker Hill 
oration. November 9, addresses the convention of Massachu- 
setts Whigs at Andover. 

1844— Participates actively in the campaign for the election of 
Clay. 

1645— December 22, speaks in protest against the annexation of 
Texas. 

1846 — February 26, opposes the resolution to give immediate notice 
to Great Britain concerning Oregon. April 6-7, speaks in 
defense of the treaty of Washington. Accepts an annuity 
from Massachusetts friends. July 25-27, speaks on the 
Walker tariff. 

1847— March 1, speaks on the Three Million Bill. April-May, 
makes a journey through the South. 

1848 — January 25, a son, Major Edward Webster, dies in Mexico. 
March 17, speaks on the Ten Regiment Bill. March 23, 
speaks on the Objects of the Mexican War. April 28, a 
daughter, Mrs. Julia Webster Appleton, dies. June 9, 
General Taylor is nominated for the presidency by the 
Whigs. October 1 and 24, speaks at Marshfield and in 
Faneuil Hall advising, with reluctance, that the Whigs 
support Taylor. 

1849 — February 22, introduces a bill proposing to postpone the 
issue of slavery in the newly acquired territories. 

1850 — January 25, Clay introduces his Compromise Measures. 
March 7, delivers notable speech in behalf of the Com- 
promise. July 9, Fillmore succeeds to the presidency. 
July 23, enters upon second period of service in the State 
Department. December 22, speaks at the Pilgrim Festival 
at New York. 

1851 — May, accompanies the President on a trip through central 
New York. July 4, delivers an oration at the laying of the 
corner-stone of an addition to the Capitol. December 21, 
transmits to Baron Hiilsemann a letter proclaiming the power 
and independence of the United States. Adjusts difficulties 
arising from an attack on the Spanish consulate in New 
Orleans. November, is urged by the Massachusetts Whiga 
for the presidential nomination. 



CHEONOLOGY 13 

1862 — January 7, speaks at a banquet tendered to Louis Kossuth. 
February 24, addresses the New York Historical Society. 
June 16, Whig nominating convention assembles in Balti- 
more. Nomination of General Scott and disappointment of 
Webster. July 9, is tendered a reception by the people of 
Boston. July 26, is welcomed by the citizens of Marshfield. 
July 26, offers to resign the secretaryship of state. September 
8, leaves Washington for the last time. September 20, 
makes last visit to Boston. October 24, dies at Marshfield, 



DANIEL WEBSTER 



CHAPTER I 

PARENTAGE AND YOUTH 

In the history of New England, hardly less than in 
that of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, the termina- 
tion of French dominion in America in 1763 was an 
epoch-marking event. In the one region as in the 
other the tension which through a century had been 
growing ever more threatening between the westward 
pressure of the seaboard, English-speaking population, 
and the stubbornly resisting powers of French and In- 
dian allies was brought definitely to an end, and vast 
stretches of virgin territory, hitherto largely inacces- 
sible, were thrown open for uncontested and profitable 
exploitation. At the beginning, in 1754, of the last 
and greatest phase of the Anglo-French combat in 
America an aggregate area not much in excess of a 
third of the 66,424 square miles now comprised in the 
six states of New England was occupied, in even the 
smallest measure, by English colonists, and every- 
where the frontier line still hovered very near the At- 
lantic. The regions still awaiting population included 
virtually the whole of Vermont ; all of New Hamp- 
shire save a strip along the coast, the Merrimac valley 
northward to New Hampton, and a bit of the Con- 
necticut valley in the southwest; all of Maine except 
an irregular coastal strip from the Piscataqua to 



16 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

Penobscot Bay ; and broad areas in western and north- 
ern Massachusetts. 1 The aggregate population of the 
New England colonies was approximately 400,000. 

At the close of the war there came an outburst of 
expansive enterprise in consequence of which there 
was wrought a remarkable sectional transformation. 
Although within the settled portions of every one of 
the colonies, with the possible exception of Ehode 
Island, there was still an abundance of vacant and till- 
able land, men of rugged fibre and restless spirit, ac- 
customed to pioneer conditions and impatient with 
the restraints of a rapidly conventionalizing society, 
cut loose by the hundreds from their uncongenial or 
unpromising surroundings and went off with their 
families and possessions into the mountains and valleys 
of the interior in quest of land, livelihood, and larger 
opportunity. The passing and repassing of colonial 
troops through the disputed northern territory during 
the course of the war had served to familiarize many 
people with the resources of the back country, and the 
upshot was that, long in advance of the formal signa- 
ture of peace, the royal governors of New York and 
New Hampshire were driving a lucrative business in 
the granting of land tracts to thrifty speculators and 
settlers. In the single year, 1761, not fewer than sixty 
townships were granted on the western side of the Con- 
necticut and eighteen on the eastern. The grantees 
begau forthwith the quest of purchasers and tenants 
and thereby stimulated substantially an influx which 
was already setting in from the adjacent province of 
Massachusetts, and from remoter Connecticut and 
Ehode Island. All fear of French attack and, for the 
moment, of Indian outbreak, was removed. The task 
1 Matthews, " The Expansion of New England," chap. 4. 



PARENTAGE AND YOUTH 17 

as it presented itself to the prospective settler was one 
simply of occupying cheap lauds and wresting from a 
niggardly soil the means of a plain but comfortable 
existence — a task from which the average New Ene- 
lander of the eighteenth century was in no wise dis- 
posed to shrink. Only with the northward and west- 
ward rush of settlers after 1760, so the historian of New 
Hampshire tells us, began the prosperity of the later 
Granite State ; 1 and one would hardly go far wrong in 
making the same affirmation concerning New Eng- 
land as a whole. 

In 1749 a band of pioneer farmers of Kingston, in 
southeastern New Hampshire, had obtained from Gov- 
ernor Benning Wentworth the grant of a township 
near the centre of the province, so located that it in- 
cluded the spot where the Merrimac River is formed 
by the confluence of the Pemigewasset and the Win- 
nipiseogee, some eighteen miles north of the present 
town of Concord. The leader of the group was a cer- 
tain Colonel Ebenezer Stevens, in whose honor the 
first settlement established, Stevenstown (incorporated 
under the name of Salisbury in 1767), was named ; 
and among the settlers who after a few years were at- 
tracted thither was a stalwart frontiersman who, it ap- 
pears, when a child had been bound to Stevens as an 
apprentice, Captain Ebenezer Webster. Ebenezer 
Webster was a typical eighteenth-century New Eng- 
land soldier- farmer. Born in Kingston in 1739, al- 
ready by 1763 he had crowded into his twenty-four 
years more adventure than is allotted the ordinary man 
of three score and ten. His father was a farmer and 
freeholder of the same name, and his remoter ancestry 
can still be traced back, in the town records of Hamp- 
1 Belknap, 4< History of New Hampshire," Vol. II, p. 312. 



18 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ton, Kingston (now East Kingston), and Salisbury, to 
a Thomas Webster, who settled at Hampton, on the 
New Hampshire coast, only sixteen years after the 
coming of the Mayflower. The family, although resi- 
dent in England some generations before emigration, 
was apparently of Lowland Scotch origin. 

The boyhood of Ebenezer Webster fell in an exciting 
period — the years when all New England was aroused 
by King George's War, and, in particular, by the ex- 
ploit of Pepperell and his men at Louisburg. There 
was little time, and less opportunity, for the acquire- 
ment of an education. The boy, as a pupil, never saw 
the inside of a schoolroom. He none the less picked 
up a good deal of knowledge of a homely and practical 
sort, and even became in a limited degree a reader and 
student of books. Some of the earliest records of the 
town of Salisbury are in his handwriting. After the 
age of twelve or fifteen he lived for several years in 
the family of Colonel Stevens, until, apparently in 
1760, at the age of twenty-one, he enlisted in one of 
the famous companies of " rangers " commanded by 
Robert Rogers, which accompanied Sir Jeffrey Am- 
herst on his invasion of Canada. Upon the conclusion 
of the war the young man, now a captain, returned 
to Kingston, where he married, in 1761, Mehitable 
Smith. Some months later, accompanied by his wife, 
and by several fellow- townsmen — most of them, like 
himself, but lately thrown out of military employment 
— he traversed the almost unbroken way to his patron's 
wilderness settlement, Stevenstown. The new town- 
ship, as originally laid out, comprised a tract four 
miles in width along the west bank of the Merrimac, 
and extended to the southwest a distance of some nine 
miles, almost to the summit of Kearsarge Mountain. 



PAKENTAGE AND YOUTH 19 

To Webster fell the northernmost portion of it, — so 
that after he had erected his log cabin on a hill three 
miles west of the Merrimac and lighted his fire, "his 
smoke ascended nearer to the North Star than that of 
any other of his Majesty's New England subjects." ' His 
nearest civilized neighbor on the north was at Montreal. 

Life in most parts of rural New England in the eight- 
eenth century was hard and prosaic. Nowhere, per- 
haps, was it more so than among the hills of central 
New Hampshire. The soil was shallow and unproduc- 
tive. Eoads and bridges scarcely existed. The winters 
were long and forbidding. Of newspapers, books, 
schools, and other agencies of entertainment and in- 
formation, there were few or none. There was not even 
entire security, for although the French no longer 
threatened from Montreal or Quebec, in the woods 
lurked savages ready to steal and destroy, if not actu- 
ally to burn and kill. As late as 1775 a frontiersman's 
wife was slain by marauding redskins within three 
miles of the Webster homestead. Unceasing toil, 
recurring hardship, and not infrequent danger — con- 
ditions which only men and women of the toughest fibre 
could hope to meet and overcome — were the certain 
lot of every commonwealth -builder of northern and 
western New England a hundred and fifty years ago. 

"My first clear and distinct recollection of my 
father's appearance," wrote Daniel Webster in 1829, 
" was when he was at the age of fifty. I think it was 
rather striking ; he was tall, six feet, or six feet within 
half an inch, erect, with a broad and full chest, hair 
still of an unchanged black, features rather large and 
prominent. He had a decisive air and bearing, partly 

1 " Autobiography of Daniel Webster." Webster, " Private 
Correspondence, " Vol. I, p. 5. 



20 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the effect, I suppose, of early soldiership. . . . 
The last time I ever saw General Stark, he paid me 
the compliment of saying that my complexion was like 
that of my father, and that his was of that cast, so con- 
venient for a soldier, that burnt gunpowder did not 
change it." 1 Writing in 1846, Webster said of his 
father : ' ' He had in him what I collect to have been 
the character of some of the old Puritans. He was 
deeply religious, but not sour. On the contrary, good- 
humored, facetious, showing even in his age, with a 
contagious laugh, teeth all as white as alabaster, gentle, 
soft, playful, and yet having a heart in him that he 
seemed to have borrowed from a lion. He could 
frown ; a frown it was ; but cheerfulness, good- 
humor, and smiles composed his most usual as- 
pect." 2 As a man of sound common sense, of correct 
judgment, and of resolute character, a patriotic, devout, 
high-minded citizen, the elder Webster early achieved 
a solid reputation throughout the section of the country 
in which he lived. In 1768 he was chosen by his 
neighbors moderator of the Salisbury town-meeting, an 
office to which he was thereafter elected forty-three 
times, serving for the last time in 1803. In March, 
1774, after ten years of backwoods existence, Mrs. 
Webster died. Of the five children she had borne, 
two — a son and a daughter — had died young, while 
three — a daughter, Susannah, and two sons, David and 
Joseph — survived. Within the year (in August) the 
father married again, the second wife being Abigail 
Eastman, a woman, according to all accounts, of more 
than ordinary force of will and loftiness of soul. 

1 " Autobiography of Daniel Webster.' 1 Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, pp. 4-6. 

2 Webster to Blatchford, May 3, 1846. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 229. 



PABENTAGE AND YOUTH 21 

Early in 1775 the storm of war broke upon the 
colonies. Among the first patriots to respond to the 
call to arms which followed Concord and Lexington was 
Captain Ebenezer Webster. The town of Salisbury had 
so grown that it was now able to muster a company of 
two hundred men, and throughout the larger portion of 
the war this company, raised by the eftbrts of Webster 
from among his neighbors and kindred, marched and 
bivouacked and fought under his command. At the 
operations about Boston in 1775-1776, at White Plains 
in 1776, with General Stark at Bennington in 1777, and 
at West Point on the occasion of the discovery of 
Arnold's treason in 1780 — not to mention a fruitless 
expedition to aid in the relief of Ticonderoga in 1777 — 
Captain Webster rendered services of an intrepid and 
highly honorable character. The proudest moment of 
his career came when, on the night following the ex- 
posure of Arnold's treachery, he was selected to stand 
guard in front of General Washington's headquarters, 
and when, if tradition is to be accredited, the general 
declared to him, " Captain Webster, I believe I can 
trust you." In the New Hampshire militia he rose, by 
1785, to the rank of colonel. 

Interspersed with military services were not only 
hurried intervals of farming but labors of a civic 
nature. By his neighbors Webster was sent as a dele- 
gate to the convention which framed the first New 
Hampshire constitution. More than once he sat as a 
member of committees having charge of the regulation 
of prices, the prevention of forestalling, and the raising 
of the town's quota of troops. Three times, in all, he 
was chosen first selectman, and three times town clerk. 
And with the establishment of a state government the 
range of his political activities was broadened. During 



22 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

and after the war he served four terms in the lower 
house of the state legislature and four in the upper one. 
In 1788 he was a member of the Exeter convention 
called to consider the ratification of the proposed 
Constitution of the United States, and in the adjourned 
session of that convention, at Concord, in the following 
June, he is reputed to have given material assistance 
in carrying the day for the new frame of government. 
In 1789 he served as a presidential elector, and from 
1791 until his death, in April, 1806, he was continued 
by the suffrage of his neighbors in the office of judge 
of the court of common pleas for the county of Hills- 
borough. 

Meanwhile certain changes had come about in the 
economy of the Webster household. With the growth 
of the family a larger and better dwelling became a 
necessity, and shortly before the close of the war a 
" frame ' ' house was built, not far from the old structure 
of logs. The new building was a typical New England 
farmhouse of the old days — " one story high, clap- 
boarded, with the chimney in the centre, the door in 
the middle of the south side, four rooms on the ground 
floor, and a lean-to in the rear for a kitchen." ! The 
evidence is not entirely conclusive, but it would appear 
that, of the five children borne by Captain Webster's 
second wife, two first saw the light in the old log house, 
two others in the frame dwelling, and the fifth in a 
house three miles to the eastward to which the family 

1 McMaster, " Daniel Webster," p. 6. The house, still standing, 
is located four miles from the centre of the town of Franklin on the 
Salisbury road. In recent years it has been leased to various per- 
sons by a building and loan association by which it is owned. In 
1912 an organization was formed, under the presidency of Ex- 
Senator William E. Chandler, for the purchase and preservation 
of the homestead. 



PAKENTAGE AND YOUTH 

removed in 1783. Of the five, three were daughters — 
Mehitable, Abigail, and Sarah. Of the two suns, 
Ezekiel was born in the log house, April 11, 1780 ; 
Daniel, in the frame structure, January 18, 1782. 

The piece of ground to which Captain Webster 
removed during the year following Daniel's birth was 
known in later days as " Elms Farm." It was situated 
in a valley two and a half miles to the south of the 
head of the Merrimac. At the time when the Wei >st ers 
made it their homestead, it was included within the 
township of Salisbury, although subsequently it fell 
within that part of the parent township which, in 1828, 
was set off under the name of Franklin. From a sheep- 
pasture, which commanded the most extensive out- 
look from the farm, Ascutney Mountain, to the north- 
west, in Vermont, was plainly visible, as, to the north- 
east, was the snow-capped summit of Mount Washing- 
ton. Altogether, with hills and valleys and distant 
mountain stretches, the physical environment amidst 
which it was the fortune of the boy Daniel to grow up 
contained much that was impressive, even awe-inspir- 
ing. That his earliest recollection, recorded in his 
autobiography, should have been one of those spectac- 
ular visitations of Nature— a devastating Hood— to 
which the New England hills are liable, is hardly sur- 
prising. The spell cast over him by rugged, relentless 
Nature as he studied her and wondered at her subtle 
power, never left him, and perhaps it is not too much to 
fancy that to its influence he owed something of that 
ruggedness and force which were to make of hi in a 
veritable giant among men. 

Ezekiel Webster was the common sort of New Eng- 
land boy, sturdy, self-reliant, ready at the age of ten 
or twelve to bear a hand in the rough task of maintain- 



24 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ing the family group. But the younger Daniel seemed 
distinctly less fortunate and less promising. Delicate, 
even sickly, in his infancy, as a boy he was altogether 
incapable of manual labor. He accordingly was al- 
lowed, and encouraged, to spend his time in the fields 
and woods at play. Racing over the meadows, steal- 
ing among the trees to watch the habits of animals and 
birds, fishing, and occasionally riding horseback up 
and down the corn rows which his father was ploughing, 
he gradually accumulated a larger vitality than fond 
parents had dared hope for him, and at the same time 
he filled his mind with a lore not then, or at any time, 
satisfactorily to be had from books. As an almost in- 
separable companion, the boy had, through many years, 
a curious old character by the name of Robert Wise— 
an unlettered adventurer who had fought in several 
European wars, had served with the New Hampshire 
levies in the Revolution, and had at last settled for the 
remainder of his days in a little cottage located on a 
corner of Elms Farm. Between the two a bargain was 
quickly struck whereby the old soldier was to instruct 
the boy in angling and other outdoor, sports, as well as 
to entertain him from an apparently inexhaustible 
fund of experiences and anecdotes, in return for which 
young Daniel was to read to his companion, " still a 
true Briton," such accounts of British affairs and deeds 
of valor as could be wrung from the meagre newspapers 
of the day. "Alas, poor Robert," runs a passage in 
the autobiography of later years, "I have never so 
attained the narrative art as to hold the attention of 
others as thou, with thy Yorkshire tongue, hast held 

mine." * 
But all was not mere play and entertainment. There 

1 Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 16. 



PARENTAGE AND YOUTH 26 

was the problem of an education. In his autobiography 
Webster tells us that he was unable to remember when 
or by whom he was taught to read, and that he never 
could recollect a time when he was not able to read the 
Bible. His supposition was that he was taught by his 
mother or his elder sisters, and the instruction must 
have begun at the tender age of three or four. Of op- 
portunity for further education there was none save 
such as was afforded by the extremely inadequate town 
schools of the vicinity. Ambitious, even as a child, to 
extend his range of information, and given every en- 
couragement by the members of his family, the boy 
attended these schools as regularly as health and 
weather permitted. That district of the town of Salis- 
bury in which the Webster family lived contained, 
indeed, three log schoolhouses. The itinerant masters, 
however, who elsewhere came from time to time into 
such communities and dispensed learning in its simpler 
forms seldom penetrated so far as the Webster com- 
munity, so that the keeping of schools fell almost ex- 
clusively to various small farmers or storekeepers who 
sought thereby to eke out their precarious livelihood. 
One may well believe that such teachers, to employ 
Webster's own phrase, were " sufficiently indifferent." 
In these schools, he says, "nothing was taught but 
reading and writing ; and, as to these, the first I gener- 
ally could perform better than the teacher, and the last 
a good master could hardly instruct me in ; writing was 
so laborious, irksome, and repulsive an occupation to 
me always. My masters used to tell me that they 
feared, after all, my fingers were destined for the 
plough-tail." 1 The first of these masters, Thomas 
Chase, is said to have been able to read and write with 

1 Webster, "Private Correspondence, " Vol. I, p. 7. 



26 DANIEL WEBSTER 

fair facility, but to have floundered hopelessly with his 
spelling. Another, James Tappan, who occasionally 
" boarded " with the Websters, was more proficient. 

For most children attendance at school was restricted 
to the eight or ten weeks of the year during which in- 
struction was being offered in the immediate neighbor- 
hood. While still but six or eight years of age, how- 
ever, Daniel persisted in walking, even in the depth 
of winter, to and from a school two and a half or three 
miles distant. And when no opportunity was to be 
had within even this distance, the boy's indulgent 
father sometimes made arrangements for him to board 
for a few weeks with a family living in the vicinity of 
a school that was more remote. ' ' A good deal of this, ' ; 
the autobiography records, ' ' was an extra care, more 
than had been bestowed on my elder brothers, and 
originating in a conviction of the slenderness and 
frailty of my constitution, which was thought not 
likely ever to allow me to pursue robust occupation." l 

The sacrifice was well repaid. The boy was not a 
prodigy, but he learned rapidly and remembered 
unfailingly all that he had been taught. When, upon 
one occasion, a master, as a special inducement to 
industry, made an offer of a jack-knife to the pupil 
who at a specified time should be able to recite the 
largest number of verses of Scripture, Daniel easily 
carried off the prize, and without being allowed, so 
we are assured, to reel off the full quota of passages 
which he had tucked away in his mind for the occasion. 
Outside of school he read as widely as the restricted op- 
portunities of the frontier permitted. His father and 
certain other men of standing in the community estab- 
lished a small circulating library, and from this Daniel 
1 Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 7. 



PARENTAGE AND YOUTH 27 

obtained a variety of books, most of them of fair quality 
and readableness. Among them was Addison's " Spec- 
tator," which, by reason of the boy's decided taste for 
poetry, was a godsend, although he tells us that it per- 
plexed him not a little that the essayist should have 
taken so great pains to demoustrate the beauty of Chevy 
Chase, a thing which was so perfectly self-evident. At 
the age of ten or twelve he could repeat from memory 
the greater portion of the psalms and hymns of Dr. 
Watts, and not seldom in his later life did he draw upon 
them for apt quotation. " I remember," he records in 
the autobiography, " that my father brought home from 
some of the lower towns Pope's ' Essay on Man,' pub- 
lished in a sort of pamphlet. I took it, and very soon 
could repeat it, from the beginning to end. We had 
so few books that to read them once or twice was noth- 
ing. We thought they were all to be got by heart." ' 
Even the arrival of the yearly almanac was an event, 
and upon one occasion it came near being attended witli 
disastrous consequences. Rising by candle-light at two 
o'clock one morning to ascertain a word in the third 
line of the quatrain set down at the top of the page 
devoted to April, young Daniel accidentally set the 
house on fire, and it was only by his father's presence 
of mind that the property, and perhaps the family, 
was saved. The boy's chagrin was not lessened by tin- 
discovery that in the dispute in which he and Ezekiel 
had been engaged relative to the April quatrain he had 
been in the wrong. 

When Daniel was not more than eight years of age 

there fell into his hands a copy of the recently adopted 

Constitution of the United States. From his father, 

whose hard-headed reasoning in the Concord oonven- 

1 Webster, " Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 8. 



28 DANIEL WEBSTER 

lion of two years before had helped turn the tide in 
favor of a ratification of the instrument, the boy must 
have picked up a good deal of information concerning 
the pressing political problems of the time. He had 
never seen the text of the new frame of government, 
however, until one day, in a little store kept by William 
Hoyt, he bought for a few cents a small cotton pocket- 
handkerchief, on the two sides of which was printed the 
Constitution, embellished with crude cuts of flags and 
other emblems. It was a gaudy affair, proudly exhib- 
ited by the owner, but roundly complained of by the 
good housewife on the ground that it " wouldn't wash." 
The printed matter was painstakingly spelled out and 
studied, and from it the boy learned, as was laughingly 
remarked in later years, " that there was a constitution, 
— or that there were thirteen states." Relating the 
incident, in 1850, Webster testified that this was his 
earliest acquaintance with the Constitution, adding 
naively that he had "known more or less of it ever 
since." ■ 

Until his fourteenth year the life of the boy flowed 
in its accustomed channels. " A great deal of the 
time," he records, u I was sick, and when well was ex- 
ceedingly slender, and apparently of feeble system. I 
read what I could get to read, went to school when I 
could ; and when not at school was a farmer's youngest 
boy, not good for much, for want of health and strength, 
but was expected to do something." 2 There appeared 
no hope of an education beyond such as might be af- 
forded by the agendas that have been described. In 
1791, however, there had come an improvement in the 
affairs of the elder Webster which eventually opened 

1 Webster, " Private Correspondence," Vol. II, p. 398. 
* Webster, Ibid., Vol. I, p. 9. 



PAEENTAGE AND YOUTH 29 

the way to a wider opportunity for the son. Possessed 
in ever increasing measure of the confidence and favor 
of his neighbors, Ebeuezer Webster was elevated in 
1791 to a ''side," i. e., an associate, justiceship in the 
court of common pleas for the county in which he 
resided. There was attached to the office a salary of 
three or four hundred dollars a year. This acquisition 
made a world of difference in the economy of the 
Webster household, and gradually there took shape in 
the Judge's mind a plan for the further education of 
his youngest son. All of the sons save Daniel and 
Ezekiel were long since settled in life. As between the 
two who remained, Daniel seemed perhaps the more 
promising ; at any rate, his obvious lack of adaptation 
to the life of the farmer pointed him out as the natural 
recipient of a paternal encouragement which could not 
be stretched to cover both. 

In July, 1795, the father gave to Daniel his first 
intimation of the special opportunities that were to 
be offered him. The circumstances attending the 
incident left an impression which never faded from 
Webster's memory. It was a hot July day and the 
boy was in the field with his father, giving such assist- 
ance as he could in the haying. " About the middle 
of the forenoon," he records, "the Honorable Abie! 
Foster, M. C, who lived in Canterbury, six miles off, 
called at the house, and came into the field to see my 
father. He was a worthy man, college-learned, and 
had been a minister, but was not a person of any con- 
siderable natural power. My father was his friend and 
supporter. He talked awhile in the field, and went on 
his way. When he was gone, my father called me to 
him, and we sat down beneath the elm, on a haycock. 
He said, ' My son, that is a worthy man ; he is a 



30 DANIEL WEBSTER 

member of Congress ; he goes to Philadelphia and gets 
six dollars a day, while I toil here. It is because he 
had an education, which I never had. If I had had 
his early education, I should have been in Philadelphia 
in his place. I came near it as it was. But I missed 
it, and now I must work here/ ' My dear father,' said 
I, ' you shall not work. Brother and I will work for 
you, and will wear our hands out, and you shall rest.' 
And I remember to have cried, and I cry now at the 
recollection. i My child,' said he, ' it is of no impor- 
tance to me. I now live but for my children. I could 
not give your elder brothers the advantages of knowl- 
edge, but I can do something for you. Exert your- 
self, improve your opportunities, learn, learn, and, 
when I am gone, you will not need to go through the 
hardships which I have undergone, and which have 
made me an old man before my time." 1 

The precise purport of this admonition did not ap- 
pear until some months later. In 1781 — the year before 
Daniel's birth — there had been established at Exeter an 
institution of learning modeled on the higher-grade 
English schools of the time, aud known, from the name 
of its benefactor, the Honorable John Phillips, as the 
Phillips Exeter Academy. In the spring of 1796 the 
elder Webster disclosed to his son his purpose to place 
him in this far-famed school, and, May 26th, the two 
made the trip together on horseback to Exeter, where 
the necessary arrangements were concluded with the 
principal of the school, Dr. Benjamin Abbott. Daniel 
was at the time but fourteen years of age. Never 
before, except for a few days at a time, had he been 
away from home, and in his new surroundings he was 

1 Webster to Blatchford, May 3, 1846. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. II, pp. 228-229. 



PAKENTAGE AND YOUTH 31 

at first somewhat overpowered. His home-made 
clothes and his rustic maimers subjected him to a 
certain amount of ridicule on the part of his more 
fashionable associates, and there were recurring attack 9 
of homesickness. Application to his studies, however, 
and the commendation of his teachers enabled him in 
time to overcome these difficulties. During the session 
from May to October he mastered the rudiments of 
English grammar and made substantial progress in 
writing and arithmetic ; and after a brief autumn vaca- 
tion, spent at home, he entered upon the study of more 
advanced subjects. In Latin grammar he fell under 
the tutelage of Joseph Stevens Buckminster, an older 
student of the academy who in 1796 was giving in- 
struction during the illness of Dr. Abbott. Other 
teachers of this period whom Webster in subsequent 
days recalled with gratitude were a Mr. Thacher and 
a Mr. Emery, both of whom turned eventually to law 
and attained some eminence in the profession. 

In one respect only was the boy's career at Exeter 
unsatisfactory to himself and to his masters : he never 
was able to summon up the requisite presence of mind 
to deliver a declamation, as every boy was expected to 
do, in the hearing of his fellow-pupils. " The kind 
and excellent Buckminster sought, especially," he tells 
us, ' ' to persuade me to perform the exercise of declama- 
tion like other boys, but I could not do it. Many a 
piece did I commit to memory, and recite and rehearse 
in my own room, over and over again, yet, when the 
day came, when the school collected to hear declama- 
tions, when my name was called, and I saw all eyes 
turned to my seat, I could not raise myself from it. 
►Sometimes the instructors frowned, sometimes they 
smiled. Mr. Buckminster always pressed and en- 



32 DANIEL WEBSTER 

treated, most winningly, that I would venture, but I 
could never command sufficient resolution. When the 
occasion was over, I went home and wept bitter tears 
of mortification." 1 From the timid Exeter school- 
boy to the confident and peerless orator of the Plym- 
outh and Bunker Hill commemorations, or of the 
Seventh of March, was a transition of tremendous 
magnitude. Although Webster himself nowhere gives 
ns any light upon the point, it is reasonable to suppose, 
as does his principal biographer, that the deficiency of 
the schoolboy arose from conditions of mental sensitive- 
ness and physical frailty which in time completely dis- 
appeared. 2 At any rate, under more favorable circum- 
stances, at college and in his profession, the difficulty 
seems never to have recurred. 

After nine months at the academy there came another 
change. In February, 1797, it was arranged that Daniel 
should be placed under the tutelage of the Reverend 
Samuel Wood, a minister of the adjoining town of 
Boscawen, but six miles distant from the Webster 
homestead. It was now the purpose of Judge Webster 
to send the boy to college, and Dr. Wood, strongly 
impressed by the lad's ability, had volunteered to fit 
him for admission, making a charge therefor, cover- 
ing lodging, board, and instruction, of one dollar a 
week. On the road to Boscawen the father disclosed 
to the boy his ultimate intention. " The very idea," 
wrote Webster long after, " thrilled my whole frame. 
He said he then lived but for his children, and if I 
would do all I could for myself he would do what he 
could for me. I remember that I was quite overcome 
and my head grew dizzy. The thing appeared to me 

1 Webster, " Private Correspondence," Vol. I, pp. 9-10. 
' Curtis, " Life of Daniel Webster," Vol. I, p. 21. 



PARENTAGE AND YOUTH 38 

so high, and the expense and sacrifice it was to cost 
my father so great, I could only press his hands and 
shed tears. Excellent, excellent parent ! I cannot 
think of him, even now, without turning child again." ' 

With Dr. Wood the boy continued his studies dur- 
ing a period of ax^proxiinately six mouths. He read 
Virgil and Cicero, conceiving, as he tells us, "a pleas- 
ure in the study of them, especially the latter, which 
rendered application no longer a task. ' ' When hay i ng 
time came round he was called home for a time by his 
father, but his indifferent application to the prosaic 
tasks of the farm only confirmed the conviction that 
he must be prepared for some occupation that would 
not involve manual labor. He was therefore returned 
without delay to the tutelage of Dr. Wood, and to the 
end that he might obtain the necessary preparation in 
the Greek grammar for an early entrance to college, a 
Dartmouth senior by the name of Palmer was called in 
to give him special instruction in that branch. Dr. 
Wood was not an exceptional scholar or teacher, but 
during a pastorate covering upward of fifty years he 
taught in his own house, sometimes without hope of 
pecuniary reward, no fewer than one hundred and fifty 
boys, most of whom went to college, and several of 
whom, like Webster, attained rare distinction in sub- 
sequent professional life. It was service of this nature, 
hardly less than the more immediate ministrations of 
religion, that gave the New England minister of a hun- 
dred years ago his remarkable hold upon the life and 
thought of his times. 

In midsummer of 1797 Dr. Wood announced to his 
youthful pupil that he might consider himself prepared 
for college. His attainments as yet, of course, were 
1 Webster, " Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 10. 



34 DANIEL WEBSTER 

meagre enough. The Latin grammar he knew fairly 
well. The first six books of the iEneid and Cicero's 
four orations against Catiline he had read. Of the 
Greek grammar he had an elementary knowledge, 
and he had read, although with indifferent pro- 
ficiency, the four gospels in the original tongue. Of 
mathematics he knew nothing, except the elementary 
arithmetic studied in the town schools and at Exeter. 
Of geography and history he had no systematic 
knowledge, although his reading had given him an 
acquaintance with some phases of these subjects. 
In the domain of English literature, while he had 
never received formal instruction, he had read witli 
sufficient range and discernment to be at least better 
equipped than was the average college student of 
the day. For Greek and mathematics he had small 
taste; but for the Latin classics, English literature, 
history, and politics he exhibited a decided liking. 
As to his preparation for college, the boy seems him- 
self to have cherished some misgivings. His patron's 
efforts, however, accomplished their purpose, and in 
August, 1797, at the age of fifteen, Daniel found him- 
self a member of the freshman class at Dartmouth. 
Doubtless it was, as he himself long afterward described 
it, a "mere breaking-in" ; but it opened anew and 
wonderful field of opportunity. 



CHAPTER II 

PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 

When Webster became a student at Dartmouth the 
institution was — as it still was twenty-one years later 
when he summoned all his powers to its defense before 
the highest tribunal of the land — a little college. Its 
origin is to be traced to a plan of the missionary, 
John Sergeant, for the establishment of an Indian school 
at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. By reason of the pre- 
mature death of Sergeant the project upon which he 
was bent was delayed, but it was taken up by Dr. 
Eleazer Wheelock, of Lebanon, Connecticut, and 
broadened to comprehend the founding of an institution 
of higher learning for both Indians and whites. 
Funds were collected in England and America and a 
site, offered by Governor Thomas Wentworth and other 
citizens of New Hampshire, was accepted, consisting 
of the township of Hanover, on the eastern bank of 
the Connecticut. In 1770 the college, bearing the nnme 
of an English patron, the Earl of Dartmouth, and 
endowed with upward of fifty thousand acres of land 
in New Hampshire and Vermont, opened its doors, 
under the management of President Wheelock and a 
self-perpetuating board of twelve trustees. A class of 
four was graduated in 1771. 

By 1797 there were upward of two hundred students 
in the college, and the number of graduates from year 
to year was surpassed at only one other institution in 
the country. The quality of instruction was excellent, 



36 DANIEL WEBSTER 

although the range was of necessity restricted. As a 
freshman young Webster merely went on with the 
reading of the iEneid and of the Greek New Testa- 
ment. In the sophomore year there was more of the 
same sort of thing, with excursions into arithmetic and 
algebra. Of new subjects to be studied there were 
practically none. And, recalling the dislike which 
Webster cherished for mathematics, and his compara- 
tive indifference to Greek, it is easy enough to under- 
stand the conclusion at which apparently he in time 
arrived, namely, that the academic routine with which 
most of his companions were content was ill-considered 
and insufficient. That during his earlier years at the 
college he ever got so far as definitely to formulate this 
revolutionary doctrine does not appear. What he did 
was simply to attend with fair diligence to the tasks 
which his instructors imposed, employing the remain- 
der of his time in more congenial pursuits, especially 
in extending his knowledge of English literature, phi- 
losophy, and modern history. There was still the pas- 
sion for poetry, and not merely for the reading and 
memorizing of it, but for writing it. Some of the 
effusions of this period, for which the author in later 
years expressed a profound contempt, survive, among 
them verses addressed to George Herbert, an intimate 
college friend, when Webster was on the point of re- 
turning to Salisbury for the winter vacation of 1798- 
1799. x They exhibit sophomoric flamboyancy, and yet 
are by no means lacking in delicacy of sentiment and 
felicity of expression. The consequence of the youth's 
somewhat independent apportionment of his time was 
that, while he was recognized as a student who could 
be depended upon absolutely to come up to the mark 
1 Webster, " Private Correspondence," Vol. I, pp. 71-72. 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 37 

with his required exercises, he did iiot attain great dis- 
tinction in his academic subjects. At the sophomore 
" exhibition" in 1799 neither of the two principal 
appointments conferred by the faculty fell to him. 
Measured solely by those standards according to which 
academic honors were then, and have often been since, 
bestowed, Daniel's college career was, indeed, con- 
siderably less brilliant than was that, subsequently, of 
his brother Ezekiel. 

The credit, however, for EzekiePs attainments rests 
in no small degree with the younger, and on the whole 
the more capable, brother. When Ebenezer Webster, 
in the teeth of financial embarrassment and approach- 
ing old age, formulated his plan for the education of 
Daniel it was his purpose that Ezekiel, vastly superior 
in physical strength and accounted of no special prom- 
ise intellectually, should remain on the iarin, gradually 
to take over the heavier labor that was to be per- 
formed and, eventually, the care of the surviving mem- 
bers of the household. In this disposition of his future 
Ezekiel uncomplainingly acquiesced. To the sensitive 
mind of Daniel, however, the arrangement brought 
sore misgiving. Never were brothers more sympa- 
thetic and more inseparable than Daniel and Ezekiel ; 
and that, by reason of his precarious health and greater 
boyishness, he had been shielded and humored in 
countless ways by his large-hearted brother, Daniel 
was much too honorable to fail to recognize. The re- 
lations sustained between the two are well illustrated 
by a little anecdote which, whether or not based upon 
actual fact, was long current in New England. The 
two boys, as the story runs, were once provided with 
a little pocket money and permitted to attend a country 
fair. When they returned in the evening Daniel was 



38 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

enthusiastic, Ezekiel rather 11cm- committal. "What 
did you do with your money 1" Daniel was asked. 
u Spent it," was the exultant answer. "And, Ezekiel, 
what did you do with yours ? ' ' The reply came with 
an air of resignation : " Lent it to Daniel." 

When, in May, 1799, the young sophomore returned 
to the old homestead for the spring vacation, he found 
Ezekiel visibly depressed by his apparently unpromis- 
ing lot. He had been thinking, so he confided to 
Daniel, of seeking his fortune in some new portion of 
the country, and had been deterred only by the reali- 
zation that his father was coming to be more than ever 
in need of his help and that within perhaps a few years 
he would be the sole dependence of his mother and his 
two unmarried sisters. In a conference which lasted 
throughout an entire night the two boys, the elder as 
yet only nineteen years of age, canvassed a problem 
which for older heads would have been sufficiently 
knotty. In the end it was decided that the idea of 
seeking a fortune in distant parts should be abandoned, 
but that, instead, Daniel should take up at once with 
his father the question of arranging, even at this late 
day, for Ezekiel's education, including eventually a 
course at Dartmouth. Both recognized that such a 
project would come as a shock to the other members 
of the family, particularly as the father was growing- 
old, his health was not good, and his circumstances 
were far from easy. None the less, on the morrow 
Daniel broached the plan and supported it with argu- 
ments which enabled him to carry the day. He prom- 
ised to "keep school" himself, if need should arise, 
and thus to take more than the allotted four years to 
complete his own course at Hanover, if only Ezekiel 
might be given an opportunity such as that which he 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 39 



M 



was himself enjoying. The father "said at oner, 
Webster records, "he lived but for his children ; that 
he had but little, and on that little he put no value, 
except so far as it might be useful to them. That to 
carry us both through college would take all he was 
worth j that, for himself, he was willing to run the 
risk ; but that this was a serious matter to our mother 
and two unmarried sisters ; that we must settle the 
matter with them, and, if their consent was obtained, 
he would trust to Providence, and get along as well as 
he could." l 

In a family council which Webster feelingly de- 
scribed in his old age the mother affirmed her williug- 
ness even that the farm, already under mortgage for 
Daniel's education, should be sold, if need be, to meet 
the expenses of the two boys. To such lengths it 
proved, fortunately, not necessary to go, but through 
many years thereafter the shadow of debt hung heavy 
over the family. For Ezekiel the road to be traversed 
was long and hard. At the relatively advanced age of 
nineteen, and after having given several years exclu- 
sively to the labor of the farm, he had to begin with 
those elementary studies which the younger brother 
had long since left behind. By dint of resolute ap- 
plication, however, he overcame the disadvantage. 
Two terms at a little academy recently established at 
Salisbury were followed by nine months of instruction 
under the direction of Dr. Wood at Boscawen, and in 
March, 1801— six months before Daniel's graduation- 
he entered Dartmouth, so well prepared, and with such 
habits of industry, that within a year he had taken 
rank as one of the most proficient students of (he 
college. He was graduated in 1804, after having 
1 Webster, "Private Correspondence, " Vol. I, p. 12. 



40 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

been in residence at Hanover little more than three 
years. 

Eeturning to college in the antnmn of 1799 for his 
junior year, Daniel found himself obliged to eke out 
by his own efforts the diminishing funds with which 
it was now possible for his father to supply him. By 
superintending the publication of a little weekly news- 
paper, the Dartmouth Gazette, and making selections 
for it from books and current periodicals, he was able 
to pay his board and at the same time to indulge his 
taste for literature and public affairs. ' ' I suppose I 
sometimes wrote," he says, " a foolish paragraph my- 
self." 1 The winter vacation of 1800 found him teach- 
ing a small school at Salisbury, the proceeds of which 
went to the support of Ezekiel during his months of 
tutelage at Dr. Wood's. 

The last two years of Webster's stay at Dartmouth 
were distinctly a period of growth in mental power 
and of broadening grasp upon those things that make 
for success in professional life. With scrupulous 
fidelity, although in sometimes a rather perfunctory 
manner, the subjects which fell to juniors and seniors 
under the rigid curriculum of the day were accorded 
their quota of time and labor. But beyond these the 
rapidly maturing student pushed his interests and in- 
quiries in multifold directions. History, especially, 
he read with voracious zeal, and, as appears from a few 
of his letters which have survived from these years, the 
politics of the day, both foreign and domestic, received 
his continued attention. At home the times were full 
of interest. In the election of 1800 federalism, under 
whose aegis Webster had been reared, went down to 
defeat, and in 1801 there was being established that 
1 Webster, " Private Correspondence,' ' Vol. I, p. 11. 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 41 

Jeffersonian regime which some of the young student's 
friends and companions regarded as a curious experi- 
ment, others as a curse that had fallen upon the land 
by reason of the iniquities of the people, but few if any 
as a natural or desirable refreshing of the body politic. 
Abroad, affairs were still more stirring. " Who would 
have thought six months ago," wrote Webster, Feb- 
ruary 5, 1800, to a former Exeter comrade, James 1 i . 
Bingham, " that Bonaparte, who was then represented 
as lying with his slaughtered army on the plains of 
Egypt, to taint the air and gorge the monsters of the 
Nile, would at this time have returned to France, have 
destroyed the Directory and Legislative Councils, have 
established a triumvirate, and have placed himself at 
its head— which is saying, have virtually made himself 
sovereign of France ? Who could have predicted that 
the Duke of York, who so late was marching victori- 
ously through Holland, should ere this time have 
entered into a convention, by which he was to give up 
all his booty and prisoners and evacuate the country ! 
Or, who ever supposed that Paul, emperor of Russia, 
who so lately was raising one hundred and eight} 
thousand men to reinforce his armies, should now order 
Suwarrow, with his veteran Cossacks, to quit the field 
and return home? The occurrences hitherto would 
have warranted the most extravagant expectations ; 
but these events must have been, I think, unprepared 
for. What unknown cause has wrought these changes ? 
I cannot determine. I am weary of conjecture." ' 

The letter just quoted is of further interest by rea- 
son of the comments contained in it upon the perils by 
which the writer believed his own country to be beset. 

1 Webster to Bingham. February 5, 1800. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 78. 



42 DANIEL WEBSTER 

" When baffled in attempting to scan the horizon of 
European politics, could I turn my eyes home and be 
presented with such a prospect as was afforded five 
years ago, I should lift my heart to heaven in a trans- 
port of devotion, and exclaim, ' Let France or Eng- 
land be arbiter of Europe, but be mine the privileges 
of an American citizen.' But. Hervey, our prospect 
darkeus ; clouds hang around us. Not that I fear the 
menaces of France ; not that I should fear all the pow- 
ers of Europe leagued together for our destruction. 
No, Bingham, intestine feuds alone I fear. The 
French faction, though quelled, is not eradicated ; the 
southern states in commotion ; a Democrat the head 
of the Executive in Virginia ; a whole county in 
arms against the government of McKean, in Pennsyl- 
vania; Washington, the great political cement dead, 
and Adams almost worn down with years, and the 
weight of cares. These considerations, operating on 
a mind naturally timorous, excite unpleasant emo- 
tions. In my melancholy moments, I presage the most 
dire calamities. I already see, in my imagination, the 
time when the banner of civil war shall be unfurled ; 
when Discord's hydra form shall set up her hideous 
yell, and from her hundred mouths shall howl destruc- 
tion through our empire ; and when American blood 
shall be made to flow in rivers, by American swords ! 
But propitious heaven prevent such dreadful calam- 
ities ! . . . Heaven grant that the bonds of our 
federal union may be strengthened ; that Gallic emis- 
saries and Gallic principles may be spurned from our 
land ; that traitors may be abashed, and that the stars 
and stripes of United Columbia may wave trium- 
phant." l 
1 Webster to James H. Bingham, February 5, 1800. Loc. cit. 



PEEPAEATION FOE THE LAW 43 

In these sentences there is, of course, much sheer 
bombast and a good deal of partisan prejudice. But 
it should be borne in mind that they were penned by 
a college junior who had arrived at the stage of de- 
velopment where one is likely to be too proud of one's 
rhetoric to be able to keep it wholly within bounds. 
Between the effectiveness of the passages that have 
been quoted and that of the peroration of the second 
Eeply to Hayne there is no apparent possibility oi' 
comparison. Yet the superiority of the later effort 
arises not so much from the sentiments contained in it 
as from the simple and restrained language in which 
they are expressed. The statesman of 1830 cherished 
an attachment for the Union hardly more fervid than 
that which stirred the heart of the schoolboy of 1S00. 

It was during his junior year at Dartmouth that 
Webster first acquired proficiency in public speaking. 
A society, " The United Fraternity," of which he be- 
came a member afforded abundant opportunity for 
practice, and gradually the shyness which had ren- 
dered his days at Exeter a torment completely disap- 
peared. By the beginning of the senior year no one 
in the college was regarded as his equal in debate or 
set oration. It was now that his enormous reading and 
his prodigious memory began to tell to his advantage. 
At a moment's notice he was able to call up from the 
depths of his mental storehouse a wealth of fact and 
allusion, with which nothing short of his long-con 
tinued, painstaking reading could have equipped him. 
His own testimony on the point is interesting. "So 
much as I read, I made my own. When a half-hour, 
or an hour at most, had elapsed, I closed my book, 
and thought over what I had read. If there was any- 
thing peculiarly interesting or striking in the passage, 



U DANIEL WEBSTER 

I endeavored to recall it and lay it up in my memory, 
and commonly could effect my object. Then if, in 
debate or conversation afterward, any subject came up 
on which I had read something, I could talk very 
easily so far as I had read, and there I was very care- 
ful to stop." l 

Three only of the orations which Webster delivered 
during his days at college have been preserved. That 
the young man had achieved fame locally as a public 
speaker is sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that 
he was invited by the townspeople of Hanover to make 
the principal address at the Fourth of July celebration 
in 1800. The character of this effort was in part 
predetermined, of course, by the nature of the occasion. 
In the speech the eighteen-year-old orator rehearsed 
the more exhilarating aspects of the Revolution, paid 
lofty tribute to Washington and other Revolutionary 
leaders, and praised the new order which had been 
ushered in under the Constitution. The tone was pro- 
nouncedly Federalist, but few if any of the auditors 
were likely to take offense thereat. The style, while 
simple and more direct than had been usual in eight- 
eenth century oratory, was still florid, and at times 
labored. The thought was, in large part, solid. The 
burden of the argument — the necessity of the Union, 
the menace of civil discord, the efficacy of the Consti- 
tution as the bulwark of the nation — was precisely that 
which it was to be the lot of Webster to bear before 
his countrymen in countless oratorical appeals through 
upward of two succeeding generations. 2 Of the other 
two college orations which have survived, one is a dis- 

1 MoGaw to Sanborn, November 16, 1852. Webster, " Private 
Correspondence, ■ ' Vol. I, p. 51. 

* "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XV, pp. 475-484. 



PREPAEATION FOR THE LAW 45 

course on "Opinion," delivered before the United 
Fraternity j 1 the other, a eulogy on a classmate, 
Ephraim Simonds, who died in June of his senior 
year. Both show some improvement upon the Han- 
over speech, the eulogy, in particular, being, as Mr. 
Curtis describes it, "natural, unaffected, full of feel- 
ing, and of a strong religious faith." 2 

In 1801 Webster was graduated with his class. Al- 
though admittedly the best speaker and the student 
of widest information in the college, he had no part in 
the commencement exercises. This, as he tells us, was 
"owing to some difficulties — hsec non meminisse jvvai." 
The circumstance reflected at the time no discredit 
upon the young graduate, nor indeed upon any one 
concerned. It arose from the fact that Webster's rank 
in his academic subjects was surpassed by that of a 
few of his classmates and that a misunderstanding be- 
tween the faculty and the graduating class with regard 
to commencement parte left Webster quite without an 
appointment. There is no evidence that he ever cher- 
ished a grudge by reason of the affair. 

Of his attainments upon leaving college Webster 
spoke several times during his subsequent life, always 
with modesty, if not disparagement. In 1S02, to one 
who was complimenting him upon his scholarship in 
college he protested : " The opinion of my scholarship 
was a mistaken one. It was overestimated. . . . 
Many other students read more than I did and knew 
more than I did." In 1825 he said to Mr. Ticknor : 
"My Greek and mathematics were not great while I 
was in college, but I was better read in history and 

1 "Writings and Speeches,'' Vol. XV, pp. 494-504. 
2 Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, p. 40. For the speech see 
"Writings and Speeches," Vol. XV, pp. 487-493. 



46 DANIEL WEBSTER 

English generally than any of my class, and I was good 
in composition. My Latin was pretty strong too." 
And in 1851, in a letter to a classmate, Dr. Merrill, 
he said: "I believe I was less industrious; at any 
rate, I indulged more in general reading, and my at- 
tainments, if I made any, were not such as told for 
much in the recitation-room. After leaving college, 
I l caught up,' as the boys say, pretty well in Latin ; 
but in college, and afterward, I left Greek to Loveland, 
and mathematics to Shattuck. Would that I had pur- 
sued Greek till I could read and understand Demos- 
thenes in his own language ! " * A taste of elementary 
Greek, a slight acquaintance with the higher forms of 
mathematics, a reasonably thorough familiarity with 
Latin grammar and literature, a broad and discerning 
knowledge of history, politics, and English literature 
— such, in brief, was the academic equipment which 
the aspiring graduate of nineteen was able to bring to 
the task of making his way in the world. Other qual- 
ifications, however, he possessed in liberal degree. He 
could write smooth and forceful, even if as yet occa- 
sionally extravagant, English. In facility in public 
debate, and in oratorical abilities generally, he had 
achieved the highest distinction possible within the 
sphere to which he had thus far been confined. His 
capacity for work was prodigious, his memory extra- 
ordinarv. Further than that, his character and de- 
portnient were such as to win the readiest confidence. 
He was refined in his tastes, unimpeachable in morals, 
genial in manner, optimistic in temperament, and pas- 
sionately patriotic. No one knew him but to admire 
him, and when he went forth from the little New 

1 Webster to Merrill, January 10, 1851. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. IT, p. 412. 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 17 

Hampshire college many of those who had observed 
his genius and measured his character were ready to 
predict for him the loftiest distinctions of life. 

After commencement Webster returned to his father's 
house in Salisbury. Not until now, it would appear, 
was the choice of a profession definitely made. Even 
at his graduation, the young man himself seems to 
have been totally undecided as to the direction in 
which he should turn. The father suggested, and 
mildly urged, the study of law ; and, without enthu- 
siasm — even with ill-concealed indifference — the son 
accepted the suggestion. In August, 1801, he entered 
the office of his father's old friend and neighbor, 
Thomas W. Thompson, an able practitioner and in 
later times a member of both the House of Represent- 
atives and the Senate of the United States. " I have 
|)recipitated myself into an office, " wrote Webster to 
his friend Bingham a few months after graduation, 
" with how much prudence I do not now allow myself 
to reflect. I am not like you, harassed with dreams, 
nor troubled with any waverings of inclination ; but 
am rather sunken in indifference and apathy. I have 
read some since commencement, learned a little, for- 
gotten a good deal, and should be glad to forget much 
more." l In a later portion of the same letter he con- 
fesses that he expects " to meet many disappointments 
in the prosecution of the law," states that he has 
" calculated too largely on the profession," and 
solemnly records that he has lately "engaged a new 
auxiliary" to support him under mortification, 
namely, tobacco. To a Mr. Coffin he writes, a few 
days later : " Considering how long I must read law, 

1 Webster to Bingham, September 22, 1801. Webster, " Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 92. 



48 DANIEL WEBSTER 

prospects are not very flattering, but perhaps I may 
find room hereafter in some wilderness, where the 
violet has not resigned her tenement, to make writs 
without disturbance of rivals, if there should be no- 
body to purchase. . . . Our class are much in- 
clined to the law, but I believe we have all mistaken 
our talents. We have those that might be good di- 
vines, and perhaps eminent physicians. But, in hon- 
esty, it is not my opinion that any individual has 
brilliancy, and at the same time penetration and judg- 
ment enough, for a great law character." l 

Mr. Thompson was a graduate of Harvard and had 
served for three years as a tutor at that institution. 
He possessed a library which, as country lawyer's 
libraries went in the early nineteenth century, was 
well filled and well selected. It was Webster's lament 
that as a student of law he was obliged to pore over 
Vattel, Montesquieu, and Blackstoue when he should 
greatly have preferred Homer, Shakespeare, and Mil- 
ton. And although he made substantial progress with 
his legal subjects, especially the law of nations (of 
which one day he was to become an eminent ex- 
pounder), he found time to devour the "Iliad," in 
Pope's translation, a large part of the poetry of 
Oowper, " Paradise Lost," several of Shakespeare's 
plays, and the histories of Hume and Robertson. 
When there were no writs to be copied and reading 
grew wearisome, the woods and streams tempted him 
forth with dog and gun and fishing-rod. 

The intention had been that Webster should con- 
tinue with Mr. Thompson throughout the winter of 
1801-1802. By mid- winter, however, the state of the 

1 Webster to Coffin, October 3, 1801. Webeler, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. I, pp. 94-95. 



PKEPAKATION FOK THE LAW 49 

family finances became such that there was nothing for 
the young man to do but to suspend his studies and 
earn some money, for both his own support and the 
maintenance of Ezekiel at Dartmouth. At this junc- 
ture there came, opportunely enough, an offer of the 
preceptorship of a little academy at Fryeburg, Maine. 
Fryeburg, at the head of the Saco Eiver and near the 
New Hampshire line, was a comparatively new settle- 
ment, but it was growing rapidly, and even if WebsUr 
had been in a position to select the scene of his labors 
he should probably have adjudged the town by no 
means an unattractive place. As it was, he grasped 
the opportunity without delay, and the middle of Janu- 
ary found him once more in the schoolmaster's chair, 
on a contract for six months' service at a salary of one 
hundred and seventy -five dollars. To the end that he 
might save his entire earnings he forthwith entered 
into a self-sacrificing arrangement with the register of 
deeds for the county of Oxford, Mr. James Osgood, 
with whose family he lived and boarded. " The fee," 
he tells us, " for recording at full length a common 
deed, in a large fair hand, and with the care requisite 
to avoid errors, was two shillings and threepence. 
Mr. Osgood proposed to me that I should do this 
writing, and that of the two shillings and threepence 
for each deed I should have one shilling aud sixpence. 
I greedily seized upon so tempting an offer, and set to 
work. On a long winter's evening I could copy two 
deeds, and that was half a dollar. Four evenings in a 
week earned two dollars ; and two dollars a week paid 
my board. This appeared to me to be a very thriving 
condition. . . . But the ache is not yet out of my 
fingers, for nothing has ever been so laborious to me as 
writing, when under the necessity of writing a good 



50 DANIEL WEBSTER 

hand. " ■ To a young man who loved reading, social 
converse, and recreation as did Webster, all this meant 
drudgery of the dreariest sort. A further passage in 
the autobiography lays bare the motive : " In May of 
this year (1802), having a week's vacation, I took my 
quarter's salary, mounted a horse, went straight over 
all the hills to Hanover, and had the pleasure of put- 
ting these, the first earnings of my life, into my 
brother's hands for his college expenses. Having en- 
joyed this sincere and high pleasure, I hied me back 
again to my school and my copying of deeds. ' ' 2 

Continued outlays in Ezekiel's behalf left Daniel in 
a chronic state of dire poverty. " You will naturally 
inquire," he writes to Mr. Fuller toward the end of 
his stay at Fryeburg, " how I prosper in the article of 
cash ; finely ! finely ! I came here in January with a 
horse and watch, etc., and a few * rascally counters ' 
in my pocket. Was soon obliged to sell my horse and 
live on the proceeds. Still straitened for cash, I sold 
my watch, and made a shift to get home, where my 
friends supplied me with another horse and another 
watch. My horse is sold again, and my watch goes I 
expect this week ; thus you see how I lay up cash." 3 
Ezekiel's needs were no greater than Daniel's had 
been, but through reiterated supplications they were 
made to appear insatiable. "Now, Zeke, you will 
not read half a sentence," so runs a note written from 
Salisbury, November 4, 1802, " no, not one syllable, 
before you have thoroughly searched this sheet for 
scrip ; but, my word for it, you will find no scrip here ! 

1 Autobiography. Webster, " Private Correspondence," Vol. 
I, p. 13. 

1 Ibid., p. 14. 

8 Webster to Fuller, August 29, 1802. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 122. 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 51 

We held a sanhedrim this morning on the subject of 
cash, could not hit upon any way to get you any ; just 
before we went away to hang ourselves through dis- 
appointment, it came into our heads that next week 
might do. ... I have now by me two cents in 
lawful federal currency ; next week I will send them, 
if they be all ; they will buy a pipe ; with a pipe you 
can smoke ; smoking inspires wisdom ; wisdom is 
allied to fortitude ; from fortitude it is but one step to 
stoicism ; and stoicism never pants for this world's 
goods ; so perhaps my two cents, by this process, may 
put you quite at ease about cash." x " Money, Daniel, 
money/' was the appeal that came from Hanover four 
days later. "As I was walking down to the office 
after a letter, I happened to find one cent, which is the 
only money I have had since the second day after I 
came on. It is a fact, Dan, that I was called on since 
for a dollar where I owed it, and borrowed it, and 
have borrowed it four times since to pay those I 
borrowed of." 2 

After some weeks a new and perplexing problem 
was presented. As a schoolmaster Webster was 
eminently successful. His pupils were devoted to him, 
and the townspeople of Fryeburg besought him to re- 
main in their midst. He was offered a salary of five 
or six hundred dollar's if he would consent to retain 
the preceptorship, and as an additional perquisite the 
clerkship of the court of common pleas for the county 
of Oxford was placed at his disposal. Could he expect 
to attain even this measure of success as a lawyer ! At 
times he doubted it. "What shall T do?" he writes 

1 Daniel to Ezekiel Webster, November 4, 1802. Webster, 
"Private Correspondence," Vol. I, pp. 122-123. 
•Ezekiel to Daniel Webster, November 6, 1802. J bid., p. 124. 



52 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

to Bingham shortly after the trip to Hanover. " Shall 
I say, 'Yes, gentlemen,' and sit down here to spend 
my days in a kind of comfortable privacy, or shall I 
relinquish these prospects, and enter into a profession, 
where my feelings will be constantly harrowed by 
objects either of dishonesty or misfortune ; where my 
living must be squeezed from penury (for rich folks 
seldom go to law), and my moral principle continually 
be at hazard ? I agree with you that the law is well 
calculated to draw forth the powers of the mind, but 
what are its effects on the heart? Are they equally 
propitious ? Does it inspire benevolence, and awake 
tenderness; or does it, by a frequent repetition of 
wretched objects, blunt sensibility, and stifle the still 
small voice of mercy?" 1 After enumerating the 
inducements that still drew him toward the law — his 
father's wishes, his friends' advice, and Mr. Thomp- 
son's offer of tuition gratis and eventually of his 
clientage — he concludes : " On the whole, I shall make 
one more trial in the ensuing autumn. If I prosecute 
the profession, I pray God to fortify me agaiust its 
temptations. To the winds I dismiss those light hopes 
of eminence which ambition inspired, and vanity 
fostered. To be ' honest, to be capable, to be faithful ' 
to my client and my conscience, I earnestly hope will 
be my first endeavor. " 3 

In September, 1802, after nine months of service at 
Fryeburg, Webster was back in Mr. Thompson's 
office at Salisbury, where he remained until the early 
spring of 1804. Even during the busy weeks at Frye- 
burg he had contrived to continue to some extent both 

'Webster to Bingham, May 18, 1802. Webster, "Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. I, pp. 110-111. 
1 Ibid., p. 111. 



PREPABATIGN FOE THE LAW 53 

his legal and his general reading. He was much too 
poor to purchase Blackstone, but he borrowed a set of 
the Commentaries and waded through two or three of 
the portly volumes. From a circulating library he 
obtained Adams's " Defense of the American Constitu- 
tions," Goldsmith's " History of England," Mosheim's 
"Ecclesiastical History," "The Spectator," "The 
Tatler," Pope's poetical works, and various other 
books, all of which were perused with unflagging inter- 
est. Here, also, there had fallen into his hands Fisher 
Ames's memorable speech on the Jay Treaty, which ho 
not only read but memorized. During the year and a 
half spent at Salisbury after the sojourn at Fryeburg 
his reading was confined more continuously to the law. 
Hume, however, he reread, and as much time as could 
be spared was devoted to the Latin classics— Cicero, 
Horace, Caesar, Sallust, and Juvenal. Long extracts 
from Cicero were committed to memory, and some of 
the odes of Horace were converted into English rhymes. 
" If one can keep up an acquaintance with general 
literature in the meantime, the law may help to 
invigorate and unfold the powers of the mind." Such 
was the highest praise which, as late as 1803, he could 
find it within him to bestow upon his adopted pro- 
fession. 

That the lofty ideals which weighed so heavily with 
Webster during these maturing years should have 
created within him a desire to attain, not necessarily a 
higher rank, but a higher efficiency, in his profession 
than had been commonly aimed at by men in his cir- 
cumstances, was inevitable. In his letters he begins 
to speak of a "rational and necessary ambition," and 
to exhibit ill-concealed impatience with the straight- 
ened conditions amidst which his lot had thus far been 



54 DANIEL WEBSTER 

cast. An idea that came to him again and again was 
that of going to Boston for the completion of his legal 
studies. "I believe," he writes in 1803, " that some 
acquaintance in the capital of New England would be 
very useful to us who expect to plant ourselves down 
as country lawyers. But I cannot control my fortune j 
I must follow wherever circumstances lead. My goiug 
to Boston is therefore much more a matter of hope 
than of probability ; unless something like a miracle 
puts the means in my hands, I shall not budge from 
here very soon. " x 

For the realization of this dream the way was 
opeued much more speedily than the ambitious stu- 
dent had dared hope. In the early weeks of 1804 Daniel 
and Ezekiel came to a realization that one or the other 
would be obliged to turn at once to something that 
would yield a little revenue ; " for," so the autobiog- 
raphy informs us, "we were getting to be heinously 
unprovided." In February Daniel made his way to 
Boston in quest of employment for himself or his 
brother. Very opportunely he found that a college 
friend, Dr. Cyrus Perkins, was on the point of giving 
up a small private school in Short (afterward Kings- 
ton) Street, and the upshot was that arrangements 
were made for Ezekiel to assume the mastership. By 
continuing his studies out of residence, the older 
brother was able to be graduated, in the same year, 
with his class. And so well did he prosper in his new 
position that, dissuading Daniel from yielding to a 
transitory impulse to seek his fortunes in New York, 
he was permitted to repay bygone sacrifices by bring- 
ing the young law student to Boston and maintaining 

1 Webster to Bingham, October 6, 1803. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence, " Vol. I, p. 145. 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 

hini until his professional preparation bad been com- 
pleted. 

Arrived in Boston, in July, 1804, Daniel's first 
problem was to seek out an office wherein to obtain a 
clerkship and, with it, an opportunity to continue bis 
studies. Having acquaintance with no member of tl il- 
legal profession in the city, and totally unprovided 
with letters of introduction, he found the task far from 
easy. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he secured, 
through a young man scarcely better known than him- 
self, an interview with Cbristopher Gore, a Federalist 
of eminence who, after upward of eight years spent in 
Great Britain as one of the commissioners under the 
Jay Treaty to settle claims for damages by British 
cruisers, had just returned home and had opened a law 
office in Scollay's building, but had as yet taken no 
clerk. In his autobiography Webster relates with 
zest the incidents of this interview — his own embar 
rassment in the presence of so courtly a gentleman, 
Mr. Gore's reassuring manner, and the engagement 
that, after fifteen minutes' conversation, was entered 
into between them. "My young friend," said 31 j. 
Gore, as the awkward youth rose to go, " you look as 
though you might be trusted. You say you came to 
study, and not to waste time. I will take you at your 
word. You may as well hang up your hat at once ; go 
into the other room ; take your book and sit down t<> 
reading it, and write at your convenience to Xe\\ 
Hampshire for your letters." 1 That a lawyer of Mr. 
Gore's experience and reputation should receive in his 
office as a clerk a raw youth whom he had never seen, 
and who came without any sort of commendation ex- 

1 Autobiography. Webster, " Private Correspondence, " Vol. I, 
p. 19. 



56 DANIEL WEBSTER 

cept that of his face and manner, is substantial evi- 
dence of the exceptional marks of trustworthiness, if 
not of promise, which the young man bore. 

For Webster the affiliation with Mr. Gore was a 
stroke of great good fortune. During the months from 
July, 1804, to the succeeding March, he enjoyed the 
widest opportunity, as he tells us, to study "men and 
books and things." Books on the common and mu- 
nicipal law he read, besides Vattel for the third time, 
Ward's " Law of Nations," Lord Bacon's " Elements," 
Pnffendorf's " Latin History of England," Gilford's 
" Juvenal," Boswell's "Tour to the Hebrides," Moore's 
"Travels," and numerous other miscellaneous works. 
The field in which he labored most was that of the com- 
mon law, especially the portions of it relating to special 
pleading. "Whatever was in Viner, Bacon, and other 
books then usually studied on that part of the science, 
I paid my respects to. Among other things, I went 
through Saunders's Reports, the old folio edition, and 
abstracted and put into English, out of Latin and Nor- 
man French, the pleadings in all his reports. It was 
an edifying work." 1 Invaluable, too, was the oppor- 
tunity which was now obtained for the first time of 
attending the sittings of the higher courts, especially 
the United States Circuit Court and the Supreme Court 
of Massachusetts. A fragmentary journal entitled 
"Some Characters at the Boston Bar, 1804," contain- 
ing characterizations of Chief Justice Theophilus Par- 
sons, Samuel Dexter, Harrison Gray Otis, James Sulli- 
van, and other legal lights of the time, affords inter- 
esting evidence of the faithfulness with which this op- 
portunity was improved. In August, 1804, it became 

Autobiography. Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, 
p. 19. 



PKEPAKATION FOR THE LAW 57 

necessary for Ezekiel to journey to Hanover to be 
present at the graduation of his class. Assuming 
charge, for a brief interval, of the Short Street school, 
Daniel formed the acquaintance, among its pupils, of 
Edward Everett, destined to be thereafter through half 
a century friend and companion, and in time fellow 
publicist. 

In January, 1805, there arose a circumstance which 
called out another of the great decisions which had so 
much to do with the determining of Webster's career. 
The clerk of the court of common pleas of the county of 
Hillsborough (the court of which Ebenezer Webster 
was a judge) resigned, and Daniel was named as his 
successor. The office carried an income of fifteen hun- 
dred dollars, and the appointment seemed to mean 
that at last the fortunes of the Webster family were 
secure. The father long since had set his heart upon 
obtaining it for his son, and when at length it was in 
hand he lost no time in sending word that the prize 
was won. It fell to Mr. Gore, in the interest of the 
larger future, to prick the bubble of present good for- 
tune. The arguments with which he tactfully dis- 
suaded the young man from accepting the post — thai 
the tenure would be precarious, that even if permanent 
it would never mean more than a mere clerkship, and 
that its acceptance would cut off the chances of a pro- 
fessional career now about beginning— constituted in- 
deed, as Webster testifies, "a shower bath of ice 
water." But they were convincing, and in the end 
they prevailed. The most unpleasant part of the af- 
fair was the breaking of the decision to the aged and 
fast declining parent who, after a life crowded full of 
sacrifice for his children, had caught at last a gleam of 
hope for a competency for those who were dear to him. 



58 DANIEL WEBSTER 

The thing was done, although Webster took care to 
travel all the way to Salisbury to the end that he 
might bear the news in the most tactful and reassuring 
manner possible. "I should be very sorry," he de- 
clared, half in bravado, to the assembled family, "if I 
could not do better at present than to be clerk, for fif- 
teen hundred dollars a year, not to speak of future 
prospects. I mean to use my tongue in the courts, not 
my pen ; to be an actor, not a register of other men's 
actions. I hope yet, sir, to astonish your Honor, in 
your own court, by my professional attainments ! " 
The immediate effect of so startliog an announcement 
was painful. "For a moment," relates Webster, "I 
thought he [the father] was angry. He rocked his 
chair slightly ; a flash went over an eye, softened by 
age, but still as black as jet ; but it was gone, and I 
thought I saw that parental partiality was, after all, a 
little gratified at this apparent devotiou to an honor- 
able profession, and this seeming confidence of success 
in it. He looked at me for as much as a minute, and 
then said very slowly, ' Well, my son, your mother has 
always said you would come to something or nothing, 
she was not sure which ; and I think you are now about 
settling that doubt for her.' This he said, and never a 
word spoke more to me on the subject." ! 

In the mind of the son, however, if not in that of the 
father, there must have lingered some misgiving. But 
a few weeks remained before he was to be admitted to 
the bar, and of what he was then to do he had no 
notion, other than is indicated in a letter of March 
10th to Mr. Fuller : " In two weeks I again put myself 
in motion, and like Noah's dove, shall flutter, with 

1 Autobiography. Webster, "Private Correspondence,'' Vol. I, 
p. 22. 



PREPARATION FOR THE LAW 59 

faint and wearied wing, over the deluge of this world, 
seeking for rest. In some country town in New 
Hampshire I shall probably put off my character of a 
rover, and fix my feet for a season. Having been for 
the winter a wandering comet, in the spring I become 
a falling star, and shall drop from the firmament of 
Boston gayety and pleasure to the level of a rustic vil- 
lage, of silence and of obscurity." * In March, 1805, 
on the motion of his patron, Mr. Gore, young Webster 
was admitted to practice in the court of common pleas 
in Boston. 

1 Webster to Fuller, March 10, 1805. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. I, p. 200. 






CHAPTER III 

THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 

The choice of a field within which to enter upon the 
practice of his profession gave Webster no small con* 
cern. He would gladly have remained in Boston ; but 
that city seemed already to be supplied with legal 
talent in superabundance. New York City was con- 
sidered ; but, on the ground principally of the expen- 
siveness of living there, and of possible uncongeniality 
of climate, Ezekiel advised against a removal thither, 
and the idea was given up. The elimination of these 
larger cities meant, in effect, the fixing upon a loca- 
tion in some town or rural region, presumably in New 
Hampshire. A twelvemonth prior to his admission 
to the bar Webster wrote to his schoolboy companion, 
Bingham, that he especially desired to settle in a place 
" where the practice of the bar is fair and honorable, " 
that he had understood that the bar of Cheshire County 
was superior in this respect to that of any other county 
in the state, and that he would probably seek a loca- 
tion within that county. In this decision he professed 
to be influenced in a measure by his preference for the 
people of the Connecticut Valley. 1 

Judge Webster wisely refrained from attempting to 
influence his son's decision. " As to the place of your 
settlement," he wrote in December, 1804, "you must 
determine for yourself." The ground upon which a 

1 Webster to Bingham, April 3, 1804. Webster, " Private Oor- 
respondenoe, " Vol. I, p. 162. 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 61 

decision was finally reached, however, was that of 
filial obligation. Immediately upon his admission to 
the bar. in April, 1805, Daniel went to Amherst, New 
Hampshire, where his father was in attendance upon a 
session of court. By his earlier legal mentor, Thomp- 
son, and by others whose counsel he valued, he had 
been advised to settle in Portsmouth, which, bein^r a 
seaport and the largest town in the state, gave promise 
of a fairly substantial practice ; and iu hisantobiographj 
he tells us that at the time when he left Boston he ex- 
pected to make Portsmouth his home. Judge Webster, 
however, had been for years in precarious health, and 
he was at this time so manifestly in decline that Dam el 
could not bring himself to remove to even a distant 
part of the same state. Resolving not to leave the im 
mediate neighborhood of Salisbury during the re- 
mainder of his father's lifetime, he " took a room," as 
he tells ns, " in the little adjoining village of Boscawen, 
and there commenced the practice of the law." The 
station of the county lawyer in New England a hun- 
dred years ago was not without its attractiveness, 
was respectable. It carried with it, indeed, a certain 
social distinction, at least locally, and it opened the 
door not infrequently to political preferment. If it 
was rarely lucrative, it at least afforded the means of 
comfortable existence. Most men who attained it 
were content with it, and most, whether by reason o\ 
limitation of talent, restriction of opportunity cm 
simple inertia, were never heard of beyond the confines 
of their neighborhood or state. Save for a certain 
restiveness of spirit and a wholesome self-confidence, i 
might well have been so with Daniel W ebster. As it 
« Autobiography. Webster, » Private Correspondence/' Vol. I, 
p. 23. 



62 DANIEL WEBSTER 

was, the young lawyer seems never to have resigned 
himself to an indefinite prolonging of his humdrum 
existence at Boscawen. The considerations involving 
his sojourn there were of the most honorable sort ; but 
as soon as they had ceased to be operative he lost no 
time in seeking a sphere which he felt to be more com- 
mensurate with his aspirations and abilities. 

"The two years and a half which I spent in Bos- 
cawen/' he tells us, "were devoted to business and 
study. I had enough of the first to live on, and to 
afford opportunity for practice and discipline. I read 
law and history ; not without some mixture of other 
things. These were the days of the Boston Anthology, 
and I had the honor of being a contributor to that pub- 
lication. There are sundry reviews, written by me, not 
worth looking up or remembering. " ' By unflagging 
diligence a practice was built up which could be de- 
pended upon to yield some six or seven hundred dol- 
lars a year — enough to provide the necessities of life 
and leave something over for the purchase of books. 
Even such a competence was to Webster a source of 
genuine gratification. "If I am not earning my 
bread and cheese in exactly nine days after my admis- 
sion to the bar," he had written to Bingham, "I shall 
certainly be a bankrupt." His practice extended over 
the three counties of Grafton, Eockingham, and Hills- 
borough. Although his life, as he described it, was 
one of "writs and summonses," there were frequent 
intervals of leisure, and these were employed prin- 
cipally in the study of the law and of kindred subjects. 
Cut off from access to libraries, he purchased books in 

1 Autobiography. Webster, "Private Correspondence of Daniel 
Webster," Vol. I, p. 23. Four contributions to the Anthology are 
reproduced in "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XV, pp. 548-563. 



THE YOUNG PKACTITIONEK 63 

such quantities as the condition of his purse would 
permit. When upon one occasion a sum of eighty-live 
dollars which had been despatched to a Boston book- 
seller in payment for a consignment of volumes was 
stolen from the bearer, the effect was that of a genuine 
calamity ; although the book-seller filled the order on 
credit and would not so much as accept the security 
which Ezekiel, in Daniel's behalf, procured. For 
many months thereafter the loss of Daniel's eighty-five 
dollars was a subject of frequent allusion, sometimes 
seriously, but often jestingly, in the letters of the 
Webster family. To Bingham Webster laments in 
this period his inability, by lack of time, to continue 
certain of his college studies and diversions, especially 
the practice of the art of versification. One ray of 
hope presents itself to him, however, namely that 
writs may some day be found reducible to poetical 
form, thus : 

All good sheriffs in the laud 

We command 
That forthwith you arrest John Dyer 

Esquire 
If in your precinct you can find him 

And bind him, etc., etc., etc. 

A saving sense of humor softened the asperities of 
other dreary stretches in Webster's career long after 
the life at Boscawen was but a memory. 

Surrounded by conditions which afforded constant 
temptation to indulgence in petty chicanery, Webster 
preserved scrupulously throughout these years his per- 
sonal dignity and his lofty ideal of his profession. 
" Study," he writes to Bingham, " is truly the grand 
requisite for a lawyer. Men may be born poets, and 



Of 



64 DANIEL WEBSTER 

leap from their cradles painters ; nature may have 
made them musicians, and called on them only to exer- 
cise, and not to acquire, ability. But law is artificial. 
It is a human science to be learnt, not inspired. . . . 
The evil is that an accursed love for money violates 
everything. We cannot study, because we must petti- 
fog. We learn the low recourses of attorneyism, when 
we should learn the conceptions, the reasonings, and 
the opinions of Cicero and Murray. The love of fame 
is extinguished ; every ardent wish for knowledge re- 
pressed ; conscience put iu jeopardy, and the best 
feelings of the heart indurated, by the mean, money- 
catchiug, abominable practices, which cover with dis- 
race a part of the modern practitioners of law. 
. Our profession is good if practiced in the 
spirit of it ; it is damnable fraud and iniquity, when 
its true spirit is supplied by a spirit of mischief- mak- 
ing and money-catching." 1 By men generally with 
whom Webster in this period of his career was brought 
in contact it was agreed that there was in him the 
promise of an exponent of the law of a type essentially 
different from that which has in all times been more 
familiar than it ought to be in the profession. 

It was the fortune of Judge Webster to be permitted 
to hear his son's first argument in court, but only the 
first. During the winter of 1805-1806 health failed 
completely and in April, 1806, the pioneer, soldier, 
lawmaker, and jurist passed away, at the age of sixty- 
seven. He was, in words applied to him by his dis- 
tinguished son four decades later, " everything that a 
man could be to whom learning never had disclosed 
her ample page" — one who faltered at nothing when 

1 Webster to Bingham, January 19, 1806. Webster, " Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 222. 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 65 

the interests involved were those of his family, his 
community, or his country. 

In May, 1807, Webster was admitted as an attorney 
and counselor of the Superior Court of New Hamp- 
shire, and in September of the same year he relin- 
quished his office and his business in Boscawen to his 
brother Ezekiel and, in conformity with his earlier 
purpose, removed to Portsmouth. Ezekiel had but 
been admitted to the bar. Family interests at Salis- 
bury—the care of the mother and sisters and the man- 
agement of the property — made it imperative that one 
of the brothers remain in that neighborhood, and 
Daniel, "not being very willing to take charge of the 
farm," decided to endorse over to Ezekiel both farm 
aud office, on condition that the two be assumed to- 
gether. The field of legal opportunity at BoscaweD 
was severely restricted. For Ezekiel it might suffia 
at least until he should be upon his feet ; for Daniel it 
was already outgrown. Besides, it afforded no " pleas- 
ure of a social sort," of which the youuger brother was 
ever fond. But it is not to be overlooked that Daniel 
now assumed his father's debts and that he long con- 
tinued to contribute to the support of his mother and 

sisters. 

The removal to Portsmouth constitutes a division 
point in Webster's career. By it he definitely cul 
loose from the petty routine of an obscure country 
lawyer and set his foot on the upward path of profes- 
sional attainment. Nine years, in all, were spent in 
practice and study within this larger field. For a 
time the outlook was not roseate. In the town the 
newcomer found seven or eight other men who filled 
writs and performed varied legal services, so that the 
share which fell to him was for a time meagre. 



66 DANIEL WEBSTER 

"Money," he writes to Ezekiel, March 3, 1808, "I 
have none. I shall certainly be hanged before three 
weeks, if I cannot get some. What can be done ? " 
A week later he writes that he has " already got to 
the second item of his will." The days brightened, 
however, and within a year or two he was earning an 
ample competence. From debt he never wholly es- 
caped. Indebtedness, on the part of himself, his 
family, and many of his associates, was a perennial 
condition, and it was his misfortune to allow the easy 
assumption to settle upon him that it was a normal, 
and in no wise a dishonorable, condition. His in- 
tegrity was unimpeachable, but he neither now nor 
later felt, as his father and his brother Ezekiel felt, 
that indebtedness involved a certain sort of social, and 
even moral, stigma. 

At the time of his settlement in Portsmouth Webster 
was twenty-five years of age. He was in appearance 
striking and in manner attractive. People generally 
concurred in the judgment of the Eeverend Buck- 
minster's daughter that the young lawyer was " a re- 
markable person" and that he "had a most marked 
character for good or for evil. " Dr. Buckminster was 
the father of the Exeter usher already mentioned and 
minister of the principal Congregational church in 
Portsmouth. He took a lively interest in the young 
man and, perceiving the apparent frailty of his consti- 
tution, urged upon him the exercise afforded by a half- 
hour's wood-sawing each morning before breakfast. 
Indeed, indisposed to counsel what he would not him- 
self practice, the reverend gentleman very frequently 
pulled one end of a "cross-cut" saw while Webster 
pulled the other. "We young people, " wrote Miss 
Buckminster later, " were always delighted when this 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 67 

strong medicine was taken before breakfast, for, how- 
ever disagreeable in itself, Mr. Webster appeared at 
our breakfast afterward with his genial humor uu im- 
paired." 1 

Nine months after the settlement in Portsmouth 
Webster slipped away for a visit, it was supposed, 
among his relatives and earlier friends, but, inpoiut of 
fact, to be married. Until within a few months of the 
date of the wedding no intimation of such a purpose 
had been forthcoming. " I am making," he writes to 
Merrill, in May, 1804, " no progress toward matri- 
mony. In point of time I am twenty -three years 
nearer to it than when I was born ; but, in point of 
probability, I cannot say that I am any." At some 
time in 1807, however, he made the acquaintance of 
Miss Grace Fletcher, daughter of the Rev. Elijah 
Fletcher, of Hopkinton. One story is that he saw the 
young lady for the first time at church in Salisbury 
during the course of a visit which she was paying to 
her elder sister, the wife of Israel W. Kelly, of Salis- 
bury, then sheriff of Merrimac County and subsequent 1 y 
United States marshal for the district of New Hamp- 
shire. At any rate, an engagement ensued, and before 
the end of the year Webster was confiding to Puller 
that he had u been a young dog long enough," ami 
that he now thought of joining himself, " as soon as 
convenient, to that happy and honorable society of 
which you are one,— the society of married men.' 
The wedding took place at Salisbury, June 24, 180S. 
Immediately after it Webster returned with his bride 
to Portsmouth. 

At the time of her marriage Mrs. Webster was 

1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 82. 

2 Van Tyne, " Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 25. 



68 DANIEL WEBSTER 

twenty-seven years of age, one year older than her 
husband. All testimony concurs that she was a woman 
of refinement and of forceful character. Her education 
fitted her to appreciate, and even to share in, the 
labors and the successes of her husband, and during 
the twenty years of her subsequent life she was com- 
monly regarded by all who knew her as a model wife 
and mother. Her dignity, her composure, and her 
ability to meet every kind of situation commanded 
wide-spread admiration. In 1810 there was born a 
daughter, to whom was given the name of the mother. 
Such glimpses as may be had into the Webster house- 
hold during the years at Portsmouth are pleasing in 
the extreme. In a collection of reminiscences employed 
by Mr. Curtis in his biography of Webster Mr. Tick nor 
writes as follows : " Between 1809 and 1814 I was fre- 
quently in Portsmouth. ... I always saw Mr. 
Webster on these occasions, dining with him at his 
own house and elsewhere, and meeting him often in the 
evening. Sometimes I saw him at his office. He 
seemed busy, but was always ready for cheerful con- 
versation ; and loved to tell humorous stories of his 
college life. His office was a common, ordinary look- 
ing room, with less furniture and more books than 
common. . . . When I first saw him there he 
lived in a small, modest, wooden house, which was 
burned in the great fire in 1813. His parlor was a 
bright and cheerful room. I remember how proud 
and fond he seemed of little Grace, his first child, as 
she sat by the fire with her book ; a child of uncom- 
mon intelligence, with a brilliant red and white com- 
plexion, and deep-set eyes, and hair as black as her 
father's. He seemed very happy. He had grown a 
little stouter than he was when I first saw him, and had 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 69 

a more commanding air ; but he was always animated, 
and sometimes full of fun. After the lire he had a 
somewhat better house ; that, I think, was behind Dr. 
Buckniinster's church. Mrs. Webster was pleasing 
and animated, and her manner to the friends of her 
husband, and to us young men, was very kind and 
cordial." l 

Professionally, at least, the nine years spent al 
Portsmouth comprised the formative period of Web- 
ster's life. It was during these years that the crude 
law student was converted into the skilled and polished 
practitioner. In his professional friendships and as- 
sociations he was from the outset fortunate. The 
ablest lawyers of New Hampshire — Jeremiah Smith, 
George Sullivan, William Plumer, Jeremiah Mason — 
and legal leaders of adjacent states, including Dexter 
and Parsons of Massachusetts, practiced regularly at 
Portsmouth, and with all of these Webster was brought 
into intimate relation, both professionally and socially. 
The environment was precisely of the sort that the 
young man needed. His efforts to hold his own with 
his older associates kept him continuously upon his 
mettle. He was impelled to study assiduously and to 
amend relentlessly every error into which he fell. Iu 
the earlier contests in which he was engaged he was 
not infrequently worsted. Plumer defeated him iu the 
first case in which the two were opposed. Mason did 
the same thing. It was instantly perceived, however, 
that in young Webster the ablest lawyer of them all 
had an opponent worthy of his steel. By leaving off 
the florid style of speaking to which he had been prone 
and by cultivating in its stead the simple, direct oratory 
which appealed to a jury, he multiplied his effective- 
1 Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, p. 85. 



70 DANIEL WEBSTER 

uess as an advocate and ere long was winning more 
than his share of cases. Under the spur of combat with 
more experienced men he was pushed all of the time to 
the limit of his ingenuity and ability. Nothing con- 
tributes more directly to the ripening of lawyerly 
talent. 

Of all his professional mentors and associates, by his 
own testimony Jeremiah Mason was most helpful and 
most influential. Mr. Mason, to-day but little known, 
was in his time a commanding figure. When Webster 
settled in Portsmouth, Mason was the recognized 
leader of the New Hampshire bar and one of the prin- 
cipal lawyers of New England. A man of massive 
physique, of heavy countenance, and of apparently 
lethargic disposition, he was none the less wonderfully 
alert, industrious, and forceful. His knowledge of 
books was not remarkable, but his acquaintance with 
the great body of the common law was in his day un- 
surpassed. Of rhetoric he knew little, and of the fine 
points of studied oratory, less. He scorned, indeed, 
all arts of speech save that of simple and clear argu- 
mentation. By sheer ability to couch his arguments 
in language comprehensible by the most ordinary jury 
he won many a case. In all that pertained to court- 
room methods Webster took him as a model. "He 
had a habit," Webster one time recalled, " of stand- 
ing quite near to the jury, so near that he might have 
laid his finger on the foreman's nose ; and then he 
talked to them in a plain conversational way, in short 
sentences, and using no word that was not level to the 
comprehension of the least educated man on the panel. 
This led me to examine my own style, and I set about 
reforming it altogether. " 

Throughout his later life Webster not infrequently 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 71 

testified to his admiration for Mason and to the debt 
which he owed him. In the Autobiography, written 
eighteen years before Mason's death in 1848, appears 
the following tribute : " For the nine years I lived in 
Portsmouth Mr. Mason and myself, in the counties 
where we both practiced, were on opposite sides, 
pretty much as a matter of course. He has been of 
infinite advantage to me, not only by his un vary i un- 
friendship, but by the many good lessons he has 
taught and the example he set me in the beginning of 
my career. If there be in the country a stronger in- 
tellect, if there be a mind of more native resources, if 
there be a vision that sees quicker or sees deeper into 
whatever is intricate or whatsoever is profound, I 
must confess I have not known it. I have not written 
this paragraph without considering what it implies. I 
look to that individual who, if it belong to anybody, 
is entitled to be an exception. But I deliberately let 
the judgment stand. That that individual has much 
more habit of regular composition, that he has been 
disciplined and exercised in a vastly superior school, 
that he possesses even a faculty of illustration more 
various and more easy, I think may be admitted. 
That the original reach of his mind is greater, that its 
grasp is stronger, that its logic is closer, I do not al- 
low." ! The person whom Webster had in mind in 
drawing this comparison was none other than Chief 
Justice John Marshall. 

The years of residence at Portsmouth were marked, 
further, by Webster's entry, in a modest way, into 

1 Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 24. During 
the years 1813-1817 Mason occupied a seat in the United States 
Senate. In 1832 he removed to Boston, where, after six years of 
practice, he lived in retirement until his death in 1848. 



72 DANIEL WEBSTER 

politics. It was the opinion of William Plumer, after 
hearing some of Webster's earlier arguments in court, 
that the young man was indeed rather better fitted for 
politics than for the law ; and there was some ground 
for the judgment. Remarkable as were Webster's 
subsequent triumphs within the domain of the law, 
they were clearly surpassed by his achievements as 
statesman and publicist. In the first half of the nine- 
teenth century a young lawyer was even more likely to 
be drawn into political life than is his counterpart to- 
day. Opportunity within the purely legal field was 
more restricted, pecuniary rewards were very much 
smaller, and the allurements of public office were cor- 
respondingly more impelling. Webster's entrance 
upon a career of political activity was gradual but 
inevitable. From an early day he had cherished a 
distinct taste for politics and for things political, and 
his large participation in political affairs in after times 
is to be attributed not only to the logic of circumstances 
but to the following out of a predominating personal 
inclination. 

In politics Webster was a Federalist, At the outset, 
at least, he could hardly have been anything other 
than a Federalist and at the same time have been his 
father's son. For Ebenezer Webster was a Federalist 
of the deepest dye. It is related of him that, being 
once taken ill in a Democratic community, he begged 
to be removed to his home, declaring that he had been 
born a Federalist, that he had lived a Federalist, and 
that he would not "die in a Democratic town." 
Ezekiel Webster, likewise, was a Federalist of the 
rock-ribbed variety. He refused persistently to mod- 
ify in the least the political principles under which he 
had been brought up, even though by yielding but a 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 7:* 

little lie might easily have attained the honor of a seal 
in Congress. In his earlier years Daniel, likewise, 
could see nothing of good in a Democrat. The polit- 
ical overturn of 1800 by which Jefferson was brought to 
the presidency was for the Webster family gall and 
wormwood, and the capture of New Hampshire by the 
Democrats in 1804 was little short of a public calamity. 
In reply to a pessimistic letter from Daniel annouix 
ing to Ezekiel, then at Boston, the last-mentioned 
event, Ezekiel writes : " In my opinion there is not a 
nook or corner in the United States that will not be 
revolutionized. The contagion of democracy will per- 
vade every place and corrupt every generous and 
manly sentiment." ' 

Never did Daniel question the essential soundness of 
the principles of Federalism. But he early threw off, 
if indeed he ever cherished, that intensely partisan 
spirit which was so eminently characteristic of his 
father and of his brother. Political parties seemed to 
him inevitable, but undesirable. Power of intellect 
and breadth of sympathy enabled him to view public 
questions with a larger judiciousness than was for most 
men possible, and from an early stage of his career he 
schooled himself to practice moderation in speech and 
in action in all things, political as well as otherwise. 
Prior to 1812 his own political activities were Limited. 
Early in 1804, during a visit to Salisbury, he was pre 
vailed upon to write an anonymous pamphlet advocat- 
ing the election of John Gilman, the Federalist candi- 
date and long a friend of the Webster family, to the 
governorship of New Hampshire. Of this brochure— 
" An Appeal to Old Whigs "—he wrote to Bingham a 
year later that he had "had the pleasure of seeing it 
1 Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 17."). 



74 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

kicked, about under many tables." He thought but 
little of it and requested that the secret of its author- 
ship be preserved. 1 Three Fourth of July orations de- 
livered between 1801 and 1809 were of literary rather 
than political interest.' 2 "My time," he records in the 
Autobiography, "was always exclusively given to my 
profession till 1812, when the war commenced. I had 
occasionally taken part in political questions, always 
felt an interest in elections, and contributed my part, 
I believe, to the political ephemera of the day. In- 
deed, I always felt an interest in political concerns. 
My lucubrations for the press go back, I believe, to 
my sixteenth year. They are, or ought to be, all for- 
gotten, at least, most of them ; and all of this early 
period." 3 

In the intervals of professional labor Webster, none 
the less, read widely upon the political developments 
of both America and Europe. His interest in public 
questions knew no bounds, geographical or otherwise. 
Many things he found to disapprove. Indeed the pre- 
vailing tone of his political observations during this 
period is pessimistic. To Merrill he writes, a few 
months before the removal to Portsmouth : "It is in- 
deed alarming that private character weighs nothing 
in the scale of public office. . . . Indeed I fear 
that our country is growing corrupt at a rate which 
distances the speed of every other. I do not say that 
the degree of positive corruption is so great, but the 
course toward total depravity is swift." There is 1am- 

1 The pamphlet is reproduced in " Writings and Speeches," Vol. 
XV, pp. 522-531. 

2 In 1802. at Fryeburg ; in 1805, at Salisbury ; in 1806, at Con- 
cord. See "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XV, pp. 505-521, 537- 
547. 

'Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 25. 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 75 

entation also by reason of the evils that have befallen 
Europe in consequence of the Napoleonic domiuation. 
"The times, " it is declared, " are such that I am sur- 
prised at nothing. If, before I rise from my table, I 
should learn that Napoleon is in London, it would not 
astonish me. I am persuaded that a great revolution 
is taking place, not only in Europe, but through the 
world. Society is deeply shaken everywhere. The 
minds of men are flying from all steadfast principles, 
like an arrow from the bow. Principles are called 
prejudices, and duty, scrupulosity. Where all of this 
will end, you and I cannot tell." l 

Webster's earlier years at Portsmouth fell, indeed, 
within a period of wide-spread public unrest. More 
and more the United States was being made to si 1 1 Fer 
by reason of the abnormal situation in Europe created 
by the titanic conflict of England and France. The 
Napoleonic decrees and the British orders in council 
of 1806 and 1807 unquestionably involved less injury 
to American commerce than has sometimes been rep- 
resented, but the injury was certainly considerable, 
and the course which the United States might best 
pursue to obviate it came to be easily the predominat- 
ing public issue of the day. In New England, and es 
pecially among the New England Federalists, it was 
urged that the ultimate responsibility for the disturb- 
ance of the international equilibrium was to be laid at 
the door of Napoleon, and that, however reprehensible 
the course which Great Britain was pursuing in mari- 
time affairs, France was the nation primarily to be 
held to account. The shipping interests, solidly Fed- 
eralist in political affiliation, demanded insistently the 

1 Webster to Merrill, March 8, 1807. Webster, "Private Cor 
respondence, ' ' Vol. I, p. 225. 



76 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

preservation of peace, the adjustment of our commer- 
cial difficulties by diplomacy, and the avoiding of any 
course of action that would bear the slightest appear- 
ance of an alliance with Napoleon. Federalism, how- 
ever, had lost its grip upon the nation, and the Federal- 
ists were unable to prevent the gradual drift of the coun- 
try into war with Great Britain. Prior to the actual 
outbreak of hostilities Webster was too much preoccu- 
pied with his legal practice to do more than follow with 
interest, and occasionally to comment pointedly upon, 
the growing problem of our foreign policy. In 1808 
he indulged his political inclination to the extent of 
publishing anonymously a small pamphlet entitled 
" Considerations on the Embargo Laws," the principal 
thesis of which was the unconstitutionality of an em- 
bargo measure not expressly limited in duration. 1 In 
his clear-cut differentiation of a limited from an un- 
limited embargo he here gave evidence of that ability 
which he displayed so remarkably in later years to 
seize upon a vital aspect of a subject and to portray it 
so vividly that even the most unlearned and the most 
indifferent might comprehend it. Portsmouth was a 
coast town, in which commercial interests preponder- 
ated, and it may be supposed that the attitude of 
Webster toward the restrictionist measures of the 
Jefferson and Madison administrations was determined 
in some degree not merely by his Federalist proclivi- 
ties but by the feelings and interests of his neighbors. 

From 1809 to 1812 Webster 7 s time was absorbed al- 
most wholly by his professional engagements. He 
followed the Superior Court through most of the coun- 
ties of the state, and appeared before it as counsel in 
very nearly every case of first-rate importance. Ac- 
* " Writings and Speeches," Vol, XV, pp. 564-574, 



THE YOUNG PBACTITIONER 77 

cording to his own account, his income in these times 
rarely, if ever, reached two thousand dollars a year. 
But he was fast acquiring a legal reputation which was 
much out of the ordinary, and the way was opening 
more rapidly than he dreamed for the broadening of 
his field of activity. In the summer of 1809 he paid a 
visit to Dartmouth College, in the course of which he 
delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society an 
oration on the subject " The State of our Literature;.' 
If the oration was not a remarkable one, it should be 
remembered that it was prepared at odd moments dur- 
ing the tedious trip to Hanover. It was, however, far 
from a perfunctory piece of work, and we have the as- 
surance of Mr. Ticknor, who as a youth of eighteen 
was privileged to hear it, that it was very much ad 
mired and praised ; although he adds that it seemed 
to him at the time " that the excitement he created 
and the homage he received were due rather to their 
[the hearers'] affection for the man, and their admira- 
tion of him, than to the merit of that particular per- 
formance. ' ' l 

On June 18, 1812, by act of Congress war was de- 
clared with Great Britain. July 4th — barely more than 
two weeks later — Webster delivered a speech which, 
marking as it did in a very real sense his entrance of 
the political arena, was easily the most important of 
his career to this point. The address was delivered, 
by invitation, before the Washington Benevolent So- 
ciety of Portsmouth. It comprised a masterful argu- 
ment against the necessity and the wisdom of the 
lately adopted policy of war. Demonstrating thai 
maritime defense, the protection of trade, and the pro- 

1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 96. For the oration see " Writ- 
ings and Speeches," Vol. XV, pp. 575-582. 



78 DANIEL WEBSTER 

viding of a national revenue were fundamental ob- 
jects of the Union, and directing attention to the de- 
partures which the Democrats had made from the 
sound Washingtonian policies in these matters, the 
orator went on to insist that if there must be a war, 
the depleted navy should be at once reconstituted, the 
much-talked-of project of invading Canada should be 
abandoned, and every measure should be adopted to 
bring the conflict to an early and an honorable close. 
In his criticism of the men who, while ready to force a 
Avar, had neglected to prepare the country for such a 
contingency, he but voiced the opinion of the Feder- 
alists universally. At one point, however, he took 
occasion to affirm in no uncertain tone a principle 
upon which Federalists were far from agreed, namely, 
the unalterable obligation of all citizens to obey im- 
plicitly the laws of the land, however objectionable 
they might be. So unpopular among New England 
Federalists was " Mr. Madison's war " that, as is well 
enough known, many persons were ready not simply 
to withhold from it every vestige of support, but even 
to go as far in positive opposition to it as was possible 
without incurring the risk of 'an indictment for trea- 
son. Within the circle of Webster's friends and asso- 
ciates there were scores of men whose attitude was, and 
continued to be, one of unrelieved bitterness. 

By Webster himself, however, the absolute enforce- 
ment of the Constitution and of the laws had ever been 
regarded as a basic necessity and unreserved obedience 
thereto on the part of the citizen an unquestionable 
obligation. "With respect to the war in which we 
are now involved," he solemnly affirmed, u the course 
which our principles require us to pursue cannot be 
doubtful. It is now the law of the land, and as such 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER 79 

we are bound to regard it. Resistance and insurrection 
form no part of our creed. The disciples of Washingto 1 1 
are neither tyrants in power nor rebels out. If we are 
taxed to carry on this war, we shall disregard certain 
distinguished examples, and shall pay. If our personal 
services are required, we shall yield them to the pre- 
cise extent of our constitutional liability. At the 
same time, the world may be assured that we know 
our rights, and shall exercise them. We shall express 
our opinions on this, as on every measure of govern- 
ment — I trust, without passion ; I am certain, without 
fear. . . . By the exercise of our constitutional 
right of suffrage, by the peaceable remedy of election, 
we shall seek to restore wisdom to our councils and 
peace to our country." At a time when older and 
more experienced men were playing fast and loose 
with the obligations of law-abiding citizenship, such 
doctrine from the lips of a Fourth of July orator bin 
thirty years of age was hardly less remarkable than 
wholesome. It would have been well if many a New 
Englander in succeeding years had pondered more 
seriously the principle here so forcefully enunciated. 1 

To men of moderate temper Webster's oration 
appealed with power. The document was promptly 
printed and two editions were exhausted. In the 
following August its author was appointed a delegate 
from Portsmouth to attend a convention of the people 
of the county of Rockingham, held in part to prepare 
a formal expression of the public disapproval of the 
war ; and the Rockingham convention proved an im- 
portant episode in his career. A paper drawn up by 
him— the so-called " Rockingham Memorial' -was 

^he speech is printed in u Writings and Speeches," Vol. XV, 
pp. 583-598. 



80 DANIEL WEBSTER 

signed by a committee representing more than fifteen 
hundred delegates and transmitted to President Mad- 
ison as the approved expression of the sense of the 
convention. The tone of the memorial was dignified, 
courteous, and moderate ; but the protest against the 
war was firm, the disapproval of cooperation with 
France was uncompromising, and the demand for imme- 
diate naval preparations was insistent. Continued 
fidelity to the Union was specifically avowed, although 
there was mention of a possible dissolution of the 
Union, which, should it ever occur, might be expected 
to take place u on some occasion when one portion of 
the country undertakes to control, to regulate, and to 
sacrifice the interest of another." There is every 
reason to suppose that this allusion to the subject of 
secession sprang from the influence of the committee, 
whose sentiments Webster, as chairman and spokes- 
man, was obliged to incorporate in the memorial. In 
the Autobiography, written in 1832, occurs this inter- 
esting comment : u August, 1812, 1 wrote the Rocking- 
ham Memorial. It was an anti-war paper, of some note 
in its time. I confess I am pleased to find, on looking 
at it now, for I do not think I have read it in all the 
twenty years that have rolled by siuce I wrote it, 
among all its faults, whether of principle or in execu- 
tion, that it is of a tone and strain less vulgar than 
such things are prone to be." l 

The Rockingham convention was of further imx^or- 
tance in the career of Webster in that, in recognition 
of his services during the session, as well as of his well- 
tested ability and integrity in general, the delegates 

1 Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 25. The 
Memorial is printed in "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XV, pp. 
599-610. 



THE YOUNG PRACTITIONER M 

conferred upon him the honor of a nomination to a seal 
in the Thirteenth Congress. At the election in the 
following November his party was victorious in the 
district, and May 24, 1813, at the convening of 11 le new 
Congress in special session, he took his place on the 
floor of the lower house at Washington. He was at 
the time but thirty-one years of age. 



CHAPTER IV 

IN CONGRESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 

In compliance with an arrangement agreed upon by 
its expiring predecessor, the Thirteenth Congress was 
convened in special session May 24, 1813. The Senate 
was still strougly Democratic, and in the new House 
of Representatives the dominating element was the 
remarkable group of younger Democratic statesmen — 
the " war-hawks" of John Randolph's famous char- 
acterization — whose voices and votes had been chiefly 
instrumental in bringing on the contest with Great 
Britain and in determining the method of its conduct 
to the present point. Henry Clay was a member and 
was promptly reelected Speaker. 1 John C. Calhoun 
was the Administration's ablest spokesman. John 
McLean of Ohio, Charles J. Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, 
Felix Grundy of Tennessee, William Gaston of North 
Carolina, and John Forsyth and George M. Troup of 
Georgia, were able debaters and vigilant parliamenta- 
rians. To Webster fell at the outset a post which 
afforded him, as a new member, an unusual oppor- 
tunity to make his voice heard in the proceedings of 
the House. He was appointed, May 26th, to the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations, of which Calhoun was 
chairman. No committee was at the time more im- 
portant, and no appointment could have been to the 
young New Hampshire member more gratifying. 

1 Having been appointed a member of the commission to negotiate 
peace with Great Britain, Clay resigned the speakership, January 
14, 1814. 



IN CONGKESS FKOM NEW HAMPSHIRE 83 

The fundamental task of the Thirteenth Congre— 
was to make provision for the successful prosecu I inn 
of the war. All things considered, the task was one of 
disheartening proportions. The war hitherto had 
beeu, by common admission, a failure, whose depress 
ing effect was relieved only by certain brillianl 
achievements upon the high seas. The armies were 
small and undisciplined ; the commanders were, in 
large part, inexperienced and of doubtful ability ; 
equipment was meagre and antiquated; funds were 
low. Large portions of the people, especially in New- 
England, continued to be entirely out of sympathy 
with the contest, and in some quarters where the war 
had at first been popular it no longer commanded 
enthusiasm, or even willing support. The Madison 
Administration, backed by a diminished majority in 
Congress, found itself more than ever compelled to 
contend not alone with the forces of the enemy but 
with wide-spread indifference and subtle opposition at 
home. 

_To_ Washington Webster came in 1813 a thorough- 
going New England Federalist, recognizing rather 
more clearly than many New England Federalists 
were prone to do the fundamental obligations of loyal 
citizenship, but admitting no obligation to follow nn 
protestingly the lead of an administration whose course 
he believed to be unwarranted and indefensible. If is 
spirit was very much less vindictive than was that of 
the Federalists of his section generally. He scrupu- 
lously avoided personalities, and through all of the 
heated controversies that filled the later months of the 
war period he contrived to remain on very agreeable 
terms socially with all of his opponents, including 
President Madison. But it was by reason of his per- 



84 DANIEL WEBSTER 

sonal dignity and fairness, not by mincing of words or 
wavering upon principle, that this was made possible. 
" Wholly inexperienced in public affairs," he wrote to 
Timothy Pickering shortly after his election, " my first 
object is to comprehend the objects, understand the 
maxims, and imbibe the spirit of the first administra- 
tion ; persuaded, as I am, that the principles which 
prevailed in the cabinet and councils of that period 
form the only anchorage in which our political prosper- 
ity and safety can find any hold in this dangerous and 
stormy time. " * 

Webster's active legislative career was inaugurated, 
June 10, 1813, by the introduction of a series of five 
resolutions calling upon the President to supply in- 
formation concerning the time and manner in which 
the repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees had been 
communicated to the authorities of the United States. '' 
Subsequent to the declaration of war, June 18, 1812, 
there was made public a decree of the French Govern- 
ment, under date of April 28, 1811, which purported 
to repeal the measures mentioned. It was further 
stated by the French foreign secretary that a copy of 
this decree had been forwarded without delay to the 
French minister at Washington. Had the President 
and his advisers taken it upon themselves to withhold 
this decree until there should have been a declaration 
of war, in the fear that, if the decree should be made 
public, the British Government might be constrained 
to rescind its orders in council, and so to leave the 
United States with no ground upon which to declare a 
war ? Or had the Administration simply been duped 
by the French authorities 1 In either case the situa- 

1 Van Tyne, ''Letters of Daniel Webster," pp. 29-30. 
8 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, pp. 3-7. 



m CONGRESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 85 



tion hardly redounded to the credit of Mr. Madison 
and the war party. Webster was not slow to detect 
the weakness of the Administration's position, and in 
his resolutions of June 10th he sought deliberately to 
turn the search-light upon a situation whose laying 
bare could hardly fail to prove embarrassing to those 
who had been responsible for the war. The speech m 
which the resolutions were explained and defended, 
however, was characteristically temperate; and, in 
truth, throughout the acrimonious debate which 
ensued Webster spoke but twice, and each time bul 
briefly. Calhoun, leading in the defense of the Ad- 
ministration, was at first inclined to suppress the pro- 
posed inquiry. He found, however, that the House 
was in no mood to countenance such a course, and, fol- 
lowing a debate which lasted intermittently through a 
week, all of the resolutions were adopted by over- 
whelming majorities. Sentiment in their favor grew 
so rapidly that Webster found it superfluous to deliver 
a closing speech in their defense, although he had 
given some time to the preparation of such a dis- 
course. Webster and John Rhea, of Tennessee, were 
named as a committee to present the resolutions to the 
President. 1 

When the two men appeared at the White House in 
fulfilment of their commission they fouud Mr. Madi- 
son suffering from a fever and were able to obtain from 
him only a promise that in due time the resolutions 
would " be attended to." On July 1 2th a formal state- 
ment was issued in the name of the Presidenl by Mr. 
Monroe, Secretary of State, in which it was affirmed 

•Text of the resolutions in " Annals of Congress," 13th Cong., 
1st sess., Vol. I, pp. 150-151. For the debate, see ib>d., pp. 170-311, 
passim. 



86 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

that the Government had remained in ignorance of the 
repealing decree of April 28, 1811, until July 13, 1812, 
upward of a month after the declaration of war. The 
explanation was accompanied by an elaborate defense 
of the Administration's course throughout the conflict. 
Monroe's reply was referred forthwith to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations and five thousand copies were 
ordered to be printed. On behalf of the committee 
Calhoun brought in a report sustaining the Administra- 
tion in general and recommending the adoption of a 
resolution specifically approving the conduct of the 
Executive in relation to the various subjects embraced 
in Webster's resolutions. Persistent effort, however, 
to procure the approval of this report failed, and, 
August 2d, Congress adjourned until the regular 
meeting date in December. In the meantime, foresee- 
ing that there would be no early action upon the sub- 
ject, Webster had returned to Portsmouth. 

On the whole, the youthful statesman's first taste of 
public life had been far from disagreeable. He had 
formed the acquaintance of men of note from all sec- 
tions of the country. Without thrusting himself for- 
ward unduly, he had been instrumental in forcing from 
the Madison Administration the most elaborate defense 
of its conduct that it had as yet felt called upon to 
render. By the few brief speeches that he had made 
he had added to the reputation he had brought with 
him to Washington for both breadth of information and 
skill in debate. By his fellow-partisans he was looked 
upon as a worthy champion ; by his opponents, as a 
hard-hitting but fair-spirited foeman. Life in Wash- 
ington, particularly during the summer months, he re- 
garded as largely devoid of attractiveness, and, but for 
the consciousness that his position obligated him to re- 



IN CONGEESS FKOM NEW HAMPSHIRE 87 

main well through the session, he should have been 
glad to return to his family and his professional inter- 
ests sooner than he did. " I have been to the levee or 
drawing-room," he writes to Bingham, "but once. 
It is a mere matter of form. You make your bow to 
Mrs. Madison, and to Mr. M. if he comes in your 
way, but he being there merely as a guest, is not offi- 
cially entitled to your conge. Monsieur Serurier, 
Madame Bonaparte, the Eussian minister, heads of de- 
partments, and tails of departments, members of Con- 
gress, etc., etc., here and there, intersx^ersed with mili- 
tary and naval hat and coat, make up the group. 
You stay from five minutes to an hour, as you please ; 
eat and drink what you can catch, without danger of 
surfeit, and if you can luckily find your hat and stick, 
then take French leave ; and that's going to -the 
'levee.'" 1 

The return to \Yashington for the regular session of 
1813-1814 was delayed until three weeks after the sit- 
tings had begun. Almost immediately upon the ar- 
rival letters were received giving information of a dis- 
astrous fire, December 22d, whereby a considerable 
portion of the town of Portsmouth had been swept 
away. AYebster's own residence, recently purchased 
for the sum of six thousand dollars, had been destroyed, 
together with his library and practically the whole of 
his personal property. He carried no insurance, and 
the loss was absolute. His first thought was to return 
at once to New Hampshire ; but in communications 
from his wife, and from various friends, he was ad- 
vised that this would be unnecessary. Mrs. Webster 
and the two children, Grace and Daniel Fletcher (the 

1 Webster to Bingham, June 4, 1813. Webster, "Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. I, p. 234, 



88 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

son had been born during the previous summer), were 
provided with shelter for the winter in the home of 
Mr. Mason. Assured, therefore, that all would be well 
with them, and induced by the critical character ot 
the times, Webster decided to remain uninterruptedly 
at Washington. 

One of his first acts during the new session was to 
call up for consideration the Administration's recent 
defense of the war. "If," said he, " its advocates can 
show satisfactorily that this war was undertaken on 
grounds plainly and manifestly just ; if they can show 
that it was necessary and unavoidable ; that it is 
strictly an American war ; that it rests solely on Amer- 
ican grounds ; and that it grew out of a policy just and 
impartial as it related to the belligerents of Europe, — 
if they ever make all this manifest, the war will change 
its character. It will then grow as energetic as it now 
is feeble. It will then become the cause of the people, 
and not the cause of a party. The people would then 
maintain their own cause, with vigor and effect." ' 
Following a short debate, January 3, 1814, the message 
transmitting Monroe's reply was referred to a commit- 
tee of the whole and a date was fixed for its consid- 
eration. The discussion, however, never took place. 
Though leading to no positive action, the resolutions 
of inquiry were adjudged by all parties to have been 
by no means barren of effect They had put the Ad- 
ministration more than ever upon the defensive, and 
had compelled a wholesome inquiry into the entire 
status and prospect of the war. They had won for 
their author a commanding place amoug the opposi- 
tion members on the floor of the House. And they 

1 Speech of January 3. 1^14. " Annals of Congress," 13th 
Cong., 1st sess., Vol. I, p. 826. 



IN CONGEESS FKOM NEW HAMPSHIRE 89 

constituted the poiut of departure for man) a sub- 
sequent attack and argument. 

During the early weeks of 1814 Webster part Lcipated 
in debate with some frequency. On January loth he 
spoke at length against a resolution introduced by 
Eobert Wright, of Maryland, proposing to extend to 
citizens generally the rules of war relating to spi< 
The object of the measure was to bring to an end the 
giving of aid to the enemy by American citizens, which 
was known to be not uncommon, especially on the 
northern frontier. In a speech of which we have only 
an epitome Webster avowed that if illegal intercourse 
with the enemy existed he would "go as far as any 
one in applying constitutional remedies to that evil." 
The offenses, however, which the measure in hand wi 
designed to reach were, he pointed out, already covered 
by the laws on the subject of treason, and adequate 
penalties for the commission of them .were already 
prescribed. Mr. Wright's measure was tantamount to 
a proposal to transfer the trial of such offenses from 
the ordinary courts of law to tribunals of a military 
character. " Sir," declared Webster, "the proposition 
strikes me as monstrous. I cannot consent to enter! ain 
the consideration of it even for a moment. It goes to 
destroy the plainest Constitutional provisions. . . . 
If the proposition should pass into a law, it takes away 
the Constitutional definition of the offense of treason ; i1 
takes away the prescribed mode of proof ; it takes awaj 
the trial by jury ; it takes away the civil tribunal, and 
establishes the military. On a resolution of this son. 
I cannot believe the House will consent to deliberate." 

Despite the efforts of Webster and others, the reso- 

1 " Annals of Congress." 13th Cong., 1st seas., Vol. I, p. 885 , 
"Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, pp. 11-13. 



00 DANIEL WEBSTER 

lution was referred, by a majority of eleven votes, to a 
committee of the whole ; but it was never reported 
upon nor subsequently discussed. Of the fundamental 
soundness of Webster's position there can be no ques- 
tion. That the relations maintained between the 
British and certain of the American opponents of the 
war were exasperating in the extreme from the point 
of view of the Administration, can readily enough be 
understood. On the American side, those relations 
were not infrequently clearly treasonable. But the 
wholesale extension of martial law, upon this account, 
to all cases involving questions of the kind would have 
meant, as Webster demonstrated, not merely to make 
provision for what was already sufficiently provided 
for, but flagrantly to subvert the fundamental rights 
of citizenship as guaranteed in the Constitution. 

On the day (January 10th) upon which Webster de- 
livered his speech in opposition to the Wright resolu- 
tion George M. Troup, of Georgia, reported to the 
House from the Committee on Military Affairs a bill 
making provision for the filling of the ranks of the 
regular army, encouraging enlistments through the 
payment of liberal bounties, and authorizing the re- 
enlistment for longer periods of men whose terms of 
service were about to expire. The measure was re- 
ferred to the committee of the whole, and three days 
later it was called up for consideration. Debate, which 
turned at first upon various details of the bill, broad- 
ened inevitably into a discussion of the fundamental 
aspects of the war itself — its causes, its methods, its 
prospects, and particularly the policies pursued by the 
government in its administration. On January 14th 
Daniel Shelfey, of Virginia, offered an amendment to 
the engrossed bill to the effect that the troops which 



IN CONGEESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 91 

should be enlisted under the terms of the prospective 
act should be "limited, as to service, to the defense <>f 
the territory and frontiers of the United States." The 
purpose of the amendment was to compel an abandon- 
ment of the projected invasion of Canada and to re- 
strict the war on land to operations of defense. Tin- 
earlier attempts to invade Canada had failed miserabl; . 
and on the part of many people there was small desire 
to witness their renewal. By the decisive vote of 103 
to 54, however, the Shelf ey amendment was rejected. 

At this point, Webster, who thus far had partici- 
pated in the debate but incidentally, rose to deliver a 
speech which easily surpassed all of his earlier efforts 
and touched, indeed, the high-water mark of his ora- 
tory during his first period of congressional service. 
Writing to Ezekiel two weeks later, and enclosing for 
distribution in Salisbury some copies of the speech, 
Webster strongly maintained that the effort was not 
what it ought to have been. " I had not time," he in- 
sists. " I had no intention of speaking till nine o'clock 
in the morning, and delivered the thing about two. I 
could make it better, but I dare say you think it would 
be easier to make a new one than to mend it. It was 
well enough received at the time, and our side of the 
house said they would have it in this form." 1 The 
subject was one of which Webster was full, and, al- 
though there was opportunity for but slight prepara- 
tion of the details of the discourse, the speaker's inter- 
est in, and knowledge of, all of the questions pertain- 
ing to the war, combined with his highly developed 
oratorical ability, fitted him above all men to discuss 
instantly any phase of the subject with force and effect. 

Daniel to Ezekiel Webster, January 30, 1814. Webster, 
" Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 239. 



92 DANIEL WEBSTER 

The florid style which had marred earlier speeches had 
now virtually disappeared and in its stead was sim- 
plicity, directness, deliberation. The speech was pro- 
fessedly partisan, and in it there was little that was 
new. But it gathered up the argumeuts of the oppo- 
sition, arrayed them in masterful fashion, and drove 
them home with a cogency which commanded the ad- 
miration of the least sympathetic hearers. 

Beginning with an avowal of readiness to support 
any measure that could be shown to be necessary for 
the defense of the country, Webster attacked sharply 
the Administration's conduct of the war and its laws 
restrictive of commerce, and urged that henceforth the 
war should be made one of defense solely, that the 
navy should be developed, and that the proposed meas- 
ure for the enlistment of troops, ^presumably for the 
conquest of Canada, should be defeated. The war it- 
self, it was contended, was a mistake. Those who were 
responsible for it had never been able to justify it. It 
had been rashly undertaken and feebly prosecuted. 
The opposition to it was, and had been from the out- 
set, honest, firm, and well considered. The right of 
those in opposition to speak, write, and vote as their 
consciences dictated was inviolate. The war, being 
supported by but a party, could prove only wasteful 
and inconclusive. " Badly as I think of the original 
grounds of the war, as well as of the manner in which 
it has been hitherto conducted, if even now, failing in 
an honest and sincere attempt to procure just and hon- 
orable peace, it [the Government] will return to meas- 
ures of defense and protection, such as reason and com- 
mon sense and the public opinion all call for, my vote 
shall not be withholden from the means. Give up 
your futile projects of invasion. Extinguish the fires 



IN OCXNGKESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 93 

that blaze on your inland frontiers. Establish perfect 

safety and defense there by adequate force. Let 
every inan that sleeps on your soil sleep in security. 
Stop the blood that flows from the veins of unarmed 
yeomanry and women and children. Give to the Jiv- 
ing time to bury and lament their dead, in the quirt 
ness of private sorrow. Having performed this work 
of beneficence and mercy on your inland border, I urn 
and look with the eye of justice and compassion od 
your vast population along the coast. Unclench the 
iron grasp of your embargo. Take measures for thai 
end before another sun sets upon you. With all the 
war of the enemy on your commerce, if you would 
cease to war on it yourselves, you would still have 
some commerce. That commerce would give you some 
revenue. Apply that revenue to the augmentation of 
your navy. That navy, in turn, will protect your 
commerce. Let it no longer be said that not one ship 
of force, built by your hands since the war, yet floats 
upon the ocean. ... If, then, the war must be 
continued, go to the ocean. If you are seriously con- 
tending for maritime rights, go to the theatre where 
alone those rights can be defended. Thither every in- 
dication of our fortune points you. There the united 
wishes and exertions of the nation will go with you. 
Even our party divisions, acrimonious as they an 1 . 
cease at the water's edge. They are lost in attachment 
to national character on the element where that char- 
acter is made respectable. In protecting naval inter 
ests by naval means, you will arm yourselves with the 
whole power of national sentiment, and may command 
the whole abundance of the national resources." ' 

1 "Annals of Congress," 13th Cong., 1st a as., Vol. I, pp. 950-951; 
" Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, pp. 33-34. 



94 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Pressure from the opposition, combined with the 
drift of circumstances, compelled the Administration 
and its supporters, within a brief period, to adopt the 
course thus so vigorously marked out. The embargo 
of December 17, 1813, against which Webster inveighed 
proved not only ineffective but unsupportable. By its 
terms all foreign commerce was inhibited, and likewise 
the coasting trade, even trade by water between ports 
of the same state. Certain influential Republicans, as 
Lowndes and Cheves, had regarded the measure from 
the outset as impossible to enforce, if not otherwise ob- 
jectionable. Within a month it was found necessary to 
alter the law for the relief of the population of the 
island of Nantucket, and on the 4th of April Calhoun 
was obliged to report from the Committee on Foreign 
Relations a bill providing for its complete and imme- 
diate repeal. The task of piloting the bill through the 
House, which fell to Calhoun, was not an enviable 
oue, for although there could be little doubt as to the 
measure's passage, a plausible defense of so sharp a re- 
versal of policy on the part of the war party called for 
the exercise of unusual ingenuity. The policy of re- 
striction was admitted frankly to have been a failure, 
but the reasons for the failure were declared to lie, not 
in the inherent inefficacy of restriction as a principle, 
but rather in the change of situation which had taken 
place in Europe. It was confessed that when war was 
once begun the restrictionist policy should have been 
discontinued. The plight of the advocates of restric- 
tion was, at best, however, embarrassing, and the op- 
ponents of the system were not unnaturally exultant. 

Following Calhoun's labored, though artful, ex- 
planations, Webster spoke at some length in commen- 
dation of the proposed repeal, but deprecating the 



IN CONGEBSS FROM NEW HAMPSHLEE 05 

opinion advanced by Calhoun to the effect that the 
rescinding' of the restrictive system should qo! be al- 
lowed to afreet the increased tariff rates established by 
the act of 1812. Speaking now, as indeed thro 
many years to come, for the commercial and ship- 
building interests of New England, Webster was quick 
to raise his voice against anything whatsoever thai 
savored of an artificial restraint upon trade. In the 
present speech, throughout which ran a vein of digni- 
fied but pointed sarcasm, the speaker confessed to a 
special delight at being present to participate in "the 
funeral ceremonies " of the restrictive system. " The 
embargo act, the non-importation act, and all the 
crowd of additions and supplements, together with al 1 
their garniture of messages, reports, and resolutions, 
are tumbling undistinguished into one common grave. 
But yesterday this policy had a thousand friends and 
supporters ; to-day it is fallen and prostrate, and l few 
so poor as to do it reverence.'" 1 Especially forceful 
was the ridicule which was heaped upon the shifting 
and uncertain policies, both commercial and military, 
which had characterized the Administration's conduct 
of the war. " It would seem, however, " he concluded, 
" that there is a class of politicians to whose taste all 
change is suited, to whom whatever is unnatural seems 
wise, and all that is violent appears great.'' I nil al 
no point, upon this occasion or upon any other, did 
Webster permit himself to descend to the level of mi 
invective. His power lay not alone in his oratory, 
but in his fair-mindedness, his moderation, and his 
rigorous abstention from personalities. Before the 
Thirteenth Congress had passed into history it was 

1 "Annals of Congress," 13th Cons., 1st sess., Vol. II, p. 1971 ; 
" Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, p. 42. 



96 DANIEL WEBSTER 

generally conceded that the House contained no orator 
who was his equal and no parliamentarian who, in 
agility and fairness, was his superior. Calhoun — 
young, aggressive, patriotic — was perhaps the most 
active member of the body. But his speeches, com- 
pared with those of Webster, were formal, dry, and 
spiritless. The bill providing for the repeal of the 
Embargo became law April lith, and with its enact- 
ment all direct restraints upon foreign trade disap- 
peared, save, of course, in goods which could be 
styled enemy's property. 

Throughout the few remaining days of the session 
Webster found occasion or incentive to speak upon no 
topic of first-rate importance. By the repeal of the 
restrictions upon trade he appears to have felt that the 
most urgent public need of the hour had been met. 
On April 18th came the adjournment, and he returned 
forthwith to his home. The four-month sojourn at the 
capital had been crowded with activity, and it had set 
the young New Hampshire member forward very ap- 
preciably in both his public and his professional 
career. In addition to the discharge of his duties in 
the House he had opened during the winter a practice 
in the federal Supreme Court which was destined to be 
renewed at frequent iutervals throughout the next 
thirty- five years, and in the course of which he was 
eventually to arrive at the zenith of his profession. 
His earlier cases pertained principally to captures and 
prizes. 

By reason of the urgent necessity of further prepara- 
tions for the prosecution of the war Congress was sum- 
moned by the President to meet in special session 
September 19, 1814. Negotiations between the British 
and American commissioners at Ghent had indeed 



IN CONGKESS FROM. NEW HAMPSHIKE *7 

been opened, but the outlook for peace was far from 
reassuring. During the previous August there had 
occurred the sack of Washington, together with tin- 
burning of the capital and of the President's mansion, 
and with the collapse of the Napoleonic power in 
Europe it seemed not improbable that the contest in 
America had entered upon a new and more serious 
stage. In his message of September 20th President 
Madison called for an increase of the regular army, a 
reclassification of the militia for purposes of active 
service, and the voting of supplies adequate to meet 
the enlarged needs of the country. The session, which 
terminated only with the expiration of the Thirteenth 
Congress, March 4, 1815, was taken up almost ex- 
clusively with the consideration of measures pertain- 
ing to the procuring of men or of money, or of both, 
for the war. 

Webster's attitude throughout was that of an in- 
ch-pendent Federalist. On most subjects he was in 
substantial accord with the majority of his party. He 
at no time, however, acknowledged obligation to sup- 
port party measures of which he did not approve. 
And in one important, matter he broke absolutely with 
the more radical members of his party in his own 
section of the Union. With the Hartford Convention 
Qf the winter of 1814-1815 he had nothing to do ; and 
he was totally out of sympathy with both its purpo* 
and its methods. In the autumn of 1814 tne Federalist 
majority in the legislature of Massachusetts procured 
the appointment of twelve delegates— including such 
men of influence as George Cabot, Harrison Gray Otis, 
and Nathan Dane— who were instructed to meet with 
similarly appointed delegates from other New England 
states for the purpose of taking under consideration 



98 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the grievances of New England arising from the war 
and recommending measures of redress. Twenty -three 
official delegates from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
Rhode Island, together with four unofficial representa- 
tives of New Hampshire and Vermont, met at Hart- 
ford, December 15, 1814, and during the ensuing 
month worked out a report in which appeared some of 
the principles, and even some of the phraseology, of 
the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutious of 1797-1798, 
closing with a series of resolutions and proposed con- 
stitutional amendments which embodied a most vigor- 
ous assault upon the Administration, even if they did 
not, as many men believed, amount to deliberate sedi- 
tion. Memorials requesting the call of such a conven- 
tion were transmitted from various towns of Massa- 
chusetts early in 1814, but it was not until after Web- 
ster had returned to Washington for the special session 
that the movement assumed serious proportions. To 
the governor of New Hampshire he wrote advising 
earnestly against the appointment of delegates, and al- 
though two of the western counties of the state took it 
upon themselves to send representatives, the state as 
such had no part in the Hartford enterprise. Web- 
ster's deep-seated attachment to the Union led him to 
deprecate any project which involved so much as the 
calling in question of the nation's permanence. His 
familiarity with the situation at Washington, further- 
more, encouraged him to expect an early turn in af- 
fairs by which the policies and measures to which the 
New England opposition was most forcibly objecting 
would be brought to an end. 

The principal measures of the new session with which 
Webster had something to do were those relating to 
the laying of war taxes and the establishment of a na- 



IN CONGRESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE «>:> 

tional bank. October 10, 181-4— five days before Web- 
ster appeared in his seat — there was reported from the 
Ways and Means Committee of the House a series of 
resolutions declariDg the expediency of continuing the 
direct tax of 1813 and of increasing it by fifty per 
cent, and likewise the desirability of increasing va 
rious existing indirect taxes and of laying a number of 
new ones. There ensued a spirited debate, involving 
discussion not merely of the wisdom of the specific 
modifications which had been recommended but also 
the conduct of the war and the prospects of an honorable 
peace. On October 24th, there being under immediate 
consideration the question of increasing the direct tax 
from fifty to one hundred per cent. , Webster explained 
at some length his reasons for voting against the meas- 
ure. The purport of the speech was that, in view of 
the certainty of the bill's adoption, he did not feel him 
self "under the necessity, either of obstructing the 
passage of the taxes through the House, or of taking 
upon himself any portion of the responsibility of lay- 
ing them." "It is not put to us who opposed the war 
in its origin, and have steadily reprobated the manner 
in which it has been prosecuted, to say now whether a 
burdensome system of taxes shall be imposed upon the 
people to replenish the exhausted Treasury. Thai is 
for those to determine who have made the taxes neces 
sary. Our votes are not asked for now, any more than 
upon the declaration of hostilities.'" ' [f, he continued, 
it could be shown that the Administration's honest ef 
forts for peace had been frustrated, that it would ap- 
ply henceforth its means to " the first great object of 
all governments, the protection of the people.'' thai. 

1 " Annals of Congress, ' ' 13th Cong., 3d sess., Vol. Ill, p. 459 • 
" Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, p. 42. 



100 DANIEL WEBSTER 

indeed, it would consent to carry on the war in a man- 
ner "agreeable to the common sense of the commu- 
nity, " he would be willing to vote all supplies for 
which the occasion might call. In the absence of 
these assurances, he could not bring himself to seem to 
lend his approval, as he should do were he to concur 
in the proposed increase of revenues. In assumiug 
this position he acted, as he seldom did, with the Fed- 
eralists of the extremer type. The majority of his fel- 
low-partisans voted for the taxes, which were carried. 
During the winter Webster contributed to the defeat 
of a draft project designed by the Administration to 
fill the depleted regiments of the army. His speech 
of December 9th upon this subject, first published only 
recently, 1 was regarded at the time as an exceedingly 
able defense of the constitutional rights of the citizen, 
and as late as 1831 Webster himself referred with some 
pride to the part which he had "in overthrowing Mr. 
Monroe's conscription in 1814." In his own later 
judgment, however, his most honorable and effective 
service as a congressman from New Hampshire was 
rendered in connection with the establishment of the 
second national bank and the regeneration of the 
nation's disordered currency system. 4 ' My efforts in 
regard to the banks at different times suggested," he 
wrote in 1832, "and in regard to the currency of the 
country, I think were of some small degree of utility to 
the public. Other subjects were temporary, and what- 
ever was done or said about them has passed away, and 
lost interest." 3 By reason largely of Federalist op- 



1 In Van Tyne, "Letters of Daniel Webster," pp. 56-68; 
" Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, pp. 55-69. 

5 Autobiography. Webster, ** Private Correspondence," Vol. I, 
p. 26. 



IN CONGRESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 101 

position to the renewal of its charter, the firsl national 
bank, established in 1791, had passed out of existence 
in 1811. During the war period, there was a veritable 
craze for the establishment of state banks and the issu- 
ing of paper money, so that within the brief space of 
two years (1811-1813; the number of local banks in t he 
country rose from eighty-eight to two hundred and 
eight. Some of these institutions were seem-. i\ 
founded, but many were not. Sooner or later the 
majority of them were obliged to suspend specie pay- 
ment, with the consequence that all forms of bank 
paper entered upon a sharp and ruinous depreciation. 
When the banks of Boston were still paying specie on 
demand, the notes of the New York banks were ten 
per cent, below specie value, those of Philadelphia 
banks fifteen, those of Baltimore twenty, those of 
Washington twenty-five. Everywhere the currency 
was deranged ; in the West and South its state can be 
described as nothing short of chaotic. Even the gov- 
ernment was obliged to accept its revenues in the form 
of depreciated and widely fluctuating paper. No 
national need was more obvious or imperative than 
some device, whether or not a national bank, which 
should exercise a steadying influence upon the cur- 
rency, such as at one time had been exercised bj 
Hamilton's bank. 

The consequence of this situation was the inaugura- 
tion of a movement for the establishment of a second 
bank. As early as April 2, 1814, it had been proposed 
in the House that a committee should be appointed to 
inquire into the expediency of establishing a bank, but 
it was not until Alexander J. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, 
became President Madison's Secretary of the Treasury 
(October, 1814). that the project took definite form. 



102 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Within a fortnight of his appointment to the treasury 
portfolio Dallas addressed to the Ways and Means 
Committee a letter recommending a national bank with 
a capital of fifty million dollars. On October 28, 
1814, by a vote of ninety-three to fifty-four, the House 
resolved "that it is expedient to establish a national 
bank with branches in the several states," and in- 
structed a committee to bring in a bill for such an in- 
stitution. The resulting measure, introduced Novem- 
ber 7th, failed in the House, but a new bill, originated 
in the Senate, was eventually passed by both houses. 
This bill provided for a bank with a capital of thirty 
million dollars, of which amount the United States 
might subscribe one- sixth. By reason, however, of the 
restrictions imposed upon the loans which the bank 
might make the government, as well as from other con- 
siderations, President Madison, with the approval of 
Dallas, vetoed the measure, January 30, 1815. 1 Within 
a week peace was proclaimed, and the question of the 
bank went over to the next Congress. 

In the House debates upon the bank question Web- 
ster had an active and an influential part. To him no 
subject seemed of more fundamental importance. In- 
volved in it was not merely the successful prosecution 
of the war, but the prosperity of industry and business 
and the credit of the nation. To the end that there 
might be a general toning-up of the currency system 
Webster advocated warmly the establishment of a 
bank, provided only that the bank established be one 
of the right description. There were those in Con- 
gress who opposed the establishment of any bank. 
There were those who advocated a bank which should 

1 Richardson, "Messages and Papers of the Presidents," Vol. 
I, pp. 555-557, 



IN CONGRESS FBOM NEW HAMPSHIRE 103 

not be obliged to restriet itself to the redemption of it- 
notes in specie. And there were those who desired a 
bank which should be compelled always to pay its 
notes, upon demand, in specie, and which should be 
entirely free to determine its own policy in respect to 
the making of loans to the government. To the third 
of these groups Webster belonged. "Throughout all 
the debates on the bank question," he records, " I kept 
steadily in view the object of restoring the currency as 
a matter of the very first importance, without which it 
would be impossible to establish any efficient system of 
revenue and finance. The very first step toward such 
a system is to provide a safe medium of payment. 1 
opposed, therefore, to the full extent ot my power, 
every project for a bank so constituted that it might 
issue irredeemable paper, and thus drown and over- 
whelm us still more completely in the miseries and 
calamities of paper money. I would agree to nothing 
but a specie-paying bank." l 

Both the House and Senate bills, as originally drawn, 
provided for a paper- money bank, and it was against 
this feature of the two measures that Webster directed 
most forcefully his opposition. The speech of Jan 
uary 2, 1815, on the recommitment of the Senate bill 
was one of the most notable of his earlier efforts. 2 
With clearness, force, and eloquence he laid bare the 
evils of a paper-money regime and expounded those 
fundamental principles of public finance which are 
acknowledged to-day to lie at the very root of all 
sound banking. It was largely through his influent 

1 Memorandum of 1831, cited in Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 
140. 

*" Annals of Congress," 13fcb Cong., 3d sess., pp. 1014-1023; 
11 Writings and Speeches," Vol. V. pp. 35-47. 



104 DANIEL WEBSTER 

that there were incorporated in the measure amend- 
ments taking from the government the power to force 
loans from the bank and to permit the institution to 
suspend the payment of specie, and not until these 
amendments had been secured was Webster willing to 
give the project his vote. " We had a hard time," he 
writes to Ezekiel, "to prevent its [the bill's] passing 
in its worst shape" ; and again : " A hundred of the 
narrowest chances alone saved us from a complete 
paper-money system, in such a form as was calculated 
and intended to transfer the odium of depreciation 
from the government to the bank." Madison's veto 
of the measure was interpreted by Webster as indica- 
tive that the proposed bank was too sound to suit the 
Administration. "The President has negatived the 
bank bill," lie writes to Ezekiel. "So all our labor 
is lost. . . . What is to be done next nobody can 
tell." The veto precipitated a renewal of the contro- 
versy, but the announcement of peace intervened, and 
on the 4th of March, 1815, the Thirteenth Congress ex- 
pired. 

In November, 1814, Webster was chosen to a second 
term as representative from the Portsmouth district. 
As late as 1831, he still regarded the Fourteenth Con- 
gress as the most talented he had known, and it is 
therefore the more worthy of being observed that by 
common consent Webster was recognized at the time 
as the Federalist leader of the House, even as Calhoun 
was yet admitted to be the Administration's principal 
spokesman and parliamentarian. Most of the abler 
members of the Thirteenth Congress reappeared in th<* 
Fourteenth, and some men of marked ability took 
their seats for the first time. Clay, returned from 
Europe, was again in the Speaker's chair. William 



IN CONGRESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 10ft 

Pinkney, of Maryland, indisputable leader of the 
American bar, was present until, in April, 1816, he 
departed for Russia. The men of largest influence in 
the House were Webster, Clay, Calhoun, John Ran- 
dolph, Pinkney, and Lowndes. 

By the illness of his daughter Grace, Webster w 
prevented from taking his seat until February 7, L816. 
During the session, which had begun on the 5th oi' t i 
previous December, the two subjects which engrossed 
most attention were the bank and the tariif. When 
Webster arrived in Washington he found already 
under consideration a bank bill, introduced January 
Sth by Calhoun, chairman of the committee on the 
national currency, and following with some closeness a 
plan recently submitted by the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. The project as it stood embraced several features 
essentially identical with those to which Webster had 
taken exception in connection with the bills of 1814- 
1815. Plunging unreservedly into the fight, the Fed 
eralist leader, with the assistance of other members of 
like mind, secured once more a reduction in volume of 
the proposed capital, a restriction of the power of the 
government to exact loans, and — most important of all 
—an absolute prohibition of the suspension of specie 
payments. "I was at special pains," he records, 
" to convince Congress and the country thai a paper 
bank would be ruinous; a bank with an inordinate 
amount of capital, such as fifty millions, dangerous j 
and that all hope of restoring the currency of the coun- 
try, even by means of the best-conducted bank, futile, 
until the government itself should execute existing 
laws, and require payment of debts and taxes in le.^al 
coin, or in the paper of specie-paying banks." Dur- 
ing the course of the delay which had taken place 



106 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Webster's interest in the bank had, in truth, somewhat 
waned, and his argument now was rather that the 
United States already had a currency (gold and silver) 
as good as any in the world, and that if the govern- 
ment would but refuse to receive the issues of non- 
speeie-paying banks such institutions would forthwith 
by driven out of existence and the currency, undis- 
turbed by depreciated paper issues, would right itself 
automatically. In the end he cast his vote against the 
bank bill, being led to do so more particularly by his 
opposition to the government's participation in the 
direction of the proposed institution. Under the lead- 
ership of Calhoun and Clay, however, the friends of 
the measure were able to muster eighty votes in a total 
of one hundred and forty-nine in the House. The bill 
was concurred in by the Senate and, approved by the 
President, April 10, 1810, it became law. 

During its earlier years the new bank was badly 
managed, its stock became a medium for violent spec- 
ulation, and several of the difficulties which had been 
predicted were fully realized. Eventually, however, 
the institution got upon its feet, and during its later 
career Webster came to be one of its warmest defenders. 
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the bank con- 
troversy, taken as a whole, was a fundamental agree- 
ment of Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and a large portion 
of their respective followings, regarding not only the 
necessity of a stable currency and the utility of a na- 
tional bank to that end, but the indubitable constitu- 
tionality of the establishment of such an institution. 
Under the spell of the nationalizing spirit of the war 
period South Carolina and Kentucky were ready to 
join hands with New England in the undertaking of 
this, and many another, public project which twenty 



IN CONGBESS FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 107 

years earlier, and twenty years later, would have been 
pronounced simply inadmissible. To the restoration 
of financial stability Webster made further notable 
contribution in 1816 through his procuring of the pas- 
sage of resolutions, approved by the President April 
30th, in accordance with which the government re- 
quired all obligations due it to be met in coin, in 
Treasury notes, in notes of the Bank of the United 
States, or in notes of other specie-paying banks. 1 The 
victory was the more noteworthy by reason of the fact 
that Calhoun had but just failed to carry through the 
House a similar measure. 

On March 12, 1816, there was introduced in the 
House a general tariff bill, embodying substantially 
the suggestions offered by Secretary Dallas in his 
notable report of February 12th preceding. The bill 
was neither a party nor a sectional measure. It was 
the first tariff bill in our history in which the protec- 
tion of American industry was a preponderating con- 
sideration ; but to most people the defense of the 
newly risen manufactures of the war period seemed so 
obviously the part of wisdom that upon the principles 
of the bill there was but small difference of opinion. 
Upon the details of the measure, especially the rates of 
duty to be imposed and the period of their applical ion, 
there was naturally some variation of view. As re- 
ported by the Ways and Means Committee, the bill 
proposed to lay a duty of twenty-five per cent, ad 
valorem on all imports of cotton and woolen manu- 
factures. On motion of Clay, the rate on cottons was 
increased to thirty per cent. Webster opposed the 
measure as a whole and the cottons schedule in partic- 

'See the speech of April 26, 1816. " Writings and Speech 
Vol. V, pp. 48-59. 



108 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ular. It was manifest that under its operation the 
importation of East Indian cotton fabrics would be ter- 
minated completely. The India trade, however, was a 
valuable asset of New England, and, although the cot- 
ton and woolen manufactures which were to be accorded 
protection flourished principally in New England, 
Webster represented as yet a commercial, ship-building 
constituency and in its interest he felt obliged to vote 
against the bill. It was his judgment, moreover, that 
the rates stipulated in the measure were too high to be 
permanent, and that a further evil that might be ex- 
pected from the proposed system would be its insta- 
bility. Eecognizing that he was powerless to prevent 
the passage of a protective measure of some kind, he 
proposed that the duties on cottons be fixed at thirty 
per cent, ad valorem for two years only, from June 30, 
1816, at twenty-five per cent, for the next two years, 
and at twenty per cent, indefinitely thereafter. By a 
large majority this proposition was concurred in, al- 
though before the final passage of the bill it was modi- 
fied to stipulate a twenty-five per cent, duty for three 
years from the ensuing June 30th and a duty of twenty 
per cent, thereafter. 

During the remainder of the session Webster partic- 
ipated in the shaping of a number of measures, but 
none of first-rate importance. An incident of some 
momentary interest was John Randolph's challenge to 
a duel, arising from a fancied insult during the course 
of a House debate. The challenge was declined with 
dignity and ere long the two men were again upon the 
best of terms. In the proceedings of the second session 
of this congress Webster's part was still less prominent. 
Early in the session there occurred the death of his 
daughter Grace, and after the return to Washington 



IN CONGEESS FEOM NEW HAMPSHIRE 109 

his practice in the Supreme Court absorbed the larger 
| portion of his time and thought. February 8, 1817, he 
voted for Calhoun's bill setting aside as a permanent 
fund for internal improvemeuts the bonus of one ami a 
half million dollars, together with the dividends, to be 
derived from the United States Bank. Upon both the 
constitutionality and the expediency of the measure 
Webster was in complete accord with his South 
Carolinian colleague, although the bill was opposed by 
no fewer than twenty-three of the Federalist members 
from New England, and by nine of the ten New Eng- 
land senators. Madison's veto of March 3d did not 
shake his judgment. He voted to sustain the bill as 
against the veto. But the measure failed for want of a 
constitutional majority. 

March 3, 1817, the Fourteenth Congress expired, and 
with it ended for a period of live years Webster's 
services in public office. 



CHAPTER V 

LAW AND ORATORY IN MASSACHUSETTS 

During the course of his second congressional term 
Webster arrived at a decision to remove from his 
native state in quest of a broader held of professional 
opportunity. To Ezekiel he announced his purpose as 
early as March, 1816. Although but thirty-four years 
of age, he stood already at the head of the New Hamp- 
shire bar, and within the circumscribed sphere of his 
earlier triumphs there were no more worlds to conquer. 
His income of barely two thousand dollars a year was 
increasingly inadequate, and the loss of almost the 
whole of his property in the Portsmouth fire of Decem- 
ber 22, 1813, rendered it the more necessary that some 
measure be taken to advance his personal fortune. 
After all, however, the principal propelling force was 
a sober consciousness of powers yet unused and a laud- 
able ambition to press forward to the topmost heights 
of the legal profession. Various possible locations 
were considered, principally New York, Albany, and 
Boston. At one time New York was all but selected. 
u Our New England prosperity and importance," 
wrote Webster pessimistically to Ezekiel, " are pass- 
ing away. This is fact. The events of the times, the 
policy of England, the consequences of our war, and 
the Ghent Treaty, have bereft us of our commerce, the 
great source of our wealth. If any great scenes are to 
be acted in this country within the next twenty years 
New York is the place in which those scenes are to be 



LAW AND OEATORY IN MASSACHUSETTS 111 

viewed." x The ultimate decision, none the less, was 
in favor of Boston. In the New England metropolis 
Webster had already a somewhat extended acquaint- 
ance, and the opportunity for professional promotion 
there awaiting men of high ability was almost, if not 
quite, as attractive as that in New York. In August, 
1816, the removal was made and the family was settled 
in a comfortable but unpretentious house in Mt. Vernon 
Street, at the summit of Beacon Hill, a stone's throw to 
the northwest from the State House. 

So far as appears from his writings, Webster had at 
this time no thought of returning to public life. His 
years in Congress had been full of interest and profit ; 
but he was still primarily a lawyer, and even during 
his period of service in the House he had divided his 
time habitually between his legislative duties and his 
employments of a professional nature. When remov- 
ing to Boston, he expected to devote himself uninter- 
ruptedly to the practice of the law, in both the courts 
of Massachusetts and the federal tribunals ,• and so he 
was enabled to do during somewhat more than half a 
decade. Success in the new field was instant and flat- 
tering. If, as tradition tells, there were legal lights in 
Boston who at first were disposed to regard the u vil- 
lage " lawyer from New Hampshire with some conde- 
scension, the time soon came when the greatest of them 
were obliged to receive him as an equal. There had 
not yet come into his countenance that striking, even 
awe-inspiring, appearance of solemn majesty which in 
later years trausfixed men who gazed upon him. But 
even now his presence was such that, by all accounts, 
when he so much as entered a room every eye was 

1 Daniel to Ezekiel Webster, March 26, 1816. Webster, "Pri- 
vate Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 256. 



112 DANIEL WEBSTER 

riveted upon hiin and voices were hushed. His friends 
and associates in the new home soon comprised not 
simply the leaders of his own profession but men of the 
highest standing in all callings. Business crowded 
in upon him, and within a year his income had been 
increased to upward of twenty thousand dollars. 

Side-lights afforded by the testimony of various 
persons who in this period had the privilege of know- 
ing the Websters somewhat intimately reveal a picture 
of splendid domestic felicity and professional prosperity 
— an epitome of substantial but unostentatious New 
England town life at its best. In no period of his 
career, probably, was Webster a busier man. He rose 
early and as a rule disposed of a goodly amount of 
work before other people had set about the duties of 
the day. In the midst of the preparation of argu- 
ments and the multiplied exactions of a lawyer's life 
he kept up his study of the more difficult phases of the 
law and gave no inconsiderable amount of time to the 
reading of books, documents, and periodicals relating 
to the politics of Europe, especially of Great Britain. 
The day was crowded with toil ; the evening, as a 
rule, was devoted to rest, recreation, and the amenities 
of family life. "After dinner," writes an intimate 
acquaintance of the family, " Mr. Webster would 
throw himself upon the sofa, and then was seen the 
truly electrical attraction of his character. Every 
person in the room was drawn immediately into his 
sphere. The children squeezing themselves into all 
possi ble places and postures upon the sofa, in order to 
be close to him ; Mrs. Webster sitting by his side, and 
the friend in the house or social visitor, only too happy 
to join in the circle. All this was not from invitation 
to the children ; he did nothing to amuse them j he 



LAW AND OEATOEY IN MASSACHUSETTS 113 

told them no stories. It was the irresistible attraction 
of his character, the charm of his illumined counte- 
nance, from which beamed indulgence and kindness to 
every one of his family." * 

Within a twelvemonth after the settlement at Boston 
Webster was drawn into the most notable piece of liti- 
gation with which he had as yet had connection. In 
the ripening of his own legal talent, in the develop- 
ment of the facilities of higher education, and in the 
shaping of the constitutional law of the United States, 
the Dartmouth College case was alike of prime im- 
portance. The history of the " college causes " which 
centred about the case of Dartmouth College vs. Wood- 
ward is too extended to be related in detail here. The 
controversy sprang originally from an attempt on the 
part of an element in the board of trustees of the col- 
lege to drive John Wheel ock from the presidency, or, 
in any event, to curb the influence of the " Wheelock 
dynasty " in the affairs of the college. By the terms 
of its charter, conferred by the crown in 1769, the col- 
lege was created a perpetual corporation, Dr. Eleazer 
Wheelock was appointed president, with power to des- 
ignate his successor, subject to the approval of the 
trustees, and the trustees were authorized to make 
laws and ordinances for the government of the college, 
with power to fill vacancies in their own body. In 
1779 John Wheelock, under provision of the will of 
his father, succeeded to the presidency. As early as 
1793 there developed a certain amount of friction be- 
tween the president and some of the trustees, and in 
1809 the enemies of Wheelock secured a majority of 
the board, enabling them to tie the hands of the pres- 
ident and to exclude from the government of the col- 
1 Quoted in Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 161. 









114 DANIEL VVEBSTEE 

lege men known to be friends of the Wheelock regime. 
For a time the conflict was kept under cover, but in 
1815 the Wheelock forces published a brochure in 
which their grievances were thoroughly aired, aud in- 
stantly there ensued a campaign of pamphleteering and 
recrimination which attracted much attention. Whee- 
lock, contemplating legal proceedings, secured from 
Webster a promise of professional assistance ; and 
when, at his own request, a committee of the legisla- 
ture was appointed to investigate the charges brought 
by him against the trustees, he requested Webster to 
appear in his behalf before the committee. On the 
pretext of absorption in business, Webster neglected to 
appear, whereat some of the partisans of Wheelock 
took serious, and perhaps in a measure justifiable, of- 
fense. The truth is that Webster entertained doubts 
as to the strength of the president's case and preferred 
for the present to keep clear of it. Eventually he 
abandoned Wheelock altogether. 

In 1815 the trustees summarily dismissed Wheelock 
from the presidency and appointed in his stead the 
Eeverend Francis Brown. The "college question" 
became forthwith the principal interest of the state. 
The trustees were Federalist in politics and Congrega- 
tional in religion, with the consequence that all 
Democrats, all members of sects other than Congrega- 
tional (Wheelock himself was a Presbyterian), and all 
independent spirits generally were easily induced to 
join in a crusade to break the grasp which Federalist 
Congregationalism had hitherto maintained upon the 
affairs of the college. At the spring elections of 1816, 
with the college question as a preponderating issue, the 
Democrats swept the state, electing both a Democratic 
legislature and William Plumer, a former Federalist 



LAW AND OKATOKY IN MASSACHUSETTS 116 

but now the Democratic candidate, as governor. 
Wheelock and his adherents went over bodily to the 
triumphant party. The victory was followed up, on 
June 27, 1816, by the enactment of a measure sub- 
mitted by Plumer changing the corporate name of the 
institution from " The Trustees of Dartmouth College " 
to "The Trustees of Dartmouth University," increas- 
ing the number of the trustees, vesting the appoint- 
ment of some of them in the governor and council, 
and in other ways altering fundamentally the nature of 
the original corporation, to the end that the college 
might be converted into a liberal institution after tbe 
model of Jefferson's University of Virginia. The old 
board refused absolutely to yield to the new one. 
Judge William H. Woodward, its secretary, was ex- 
pelled from his office by reason of his having accepted a 
similar position with the new board, and suit was 
brought against him in the Supreme Court of the state 
to recover possession of the college seal and other ef- 
fects of the corporation. 

In the first argument of the case, in May, 1817, the 
college, i. e., the old board, was represented by Jere- 
miah Mason and Judge Jeremiah Smith, two of the 
ablest lawyers of the day, while the interests of Wood- 
ward and the recently created board were entrusted to 
Ichabod Bartlett and the attorney -general of the Btate, 
George Sullivan, who likewise were hard fighters and 
ingenious advocates. The case was postponed to the 
September session, at Exeter, and at the second argu- 
ing — affirmed by one writer to have been the sharpest 
intellectual contest which ever took place in a Xew 
Hampshire court 1 — it fell to Webster to cooperate 
with Mason and Smith in the defense of the college. 
1 McCall, " Daniel Webster," p. 23. 



116 DANIEL WBBSTEK 

A two-hour speech (unreported), closing for the plain- 
tiff, exhibited many of the qualities which reappeared 
in yet more striking fashion in the effort of the next 
year before the Supreme Court at Washington. The 
judgment of the court, however, sustained the consti- 
tutionality and validity of the act of 1816 without 
reserve, and was therefore adverse to the claims of the 
college upon every point. The charter was declared 
to have created a public corporation, established for 
the purpose of promoting public education ; hence, not 
being a contract with individuals, it must be regarded 
as at the entire disposition ultimately, in the public 
interest, of the legislature of the state. 

It having been determined to continue the fight, the 
case was carried, on a writ of error, to the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The claim upon which the 
appeal was based was that the statute of June, 1816, 
had so altered the character of the college corporation 
as to have comprised an impairment of the obligation 
of a contract, involving the exercise of a power which 
the Federal Constitution plainly withholds from the 
legislatures of the states. In the consideration of the 
case in the New Hampshire court this point had re- 
ceived little emphasis. It had been mentioned, but the 
arguments of Mason, Smith, and Webster had run 
along other lines, to the effect, chiefly, that in the act 
of 1816 the legislature of the state had transcended not 
merely the normal scope of legislative power but also 
the positive limitations imposed upon such power by 
the constitution of the state. So keenly did Webster 
regret the necessity of resting the college's case upon 
the purely constitutional issue in relation to the im- 
pairment of contracts that he instigated the devising of 
cognate cases covering other aspects of the situation, in 



LAW AND ORATOBY IN MASSACHUSETTS 117 

the liope that these cases, after having been pushed 
through the courts of the state, should be carried to 
the supreme federal tribunal, so that they in time 
might be made the means of a victory for the college 
over its adversaries. It was destined to come about 
that before any of these cognate causes could be made 
to yield results the immediate case had been argued 
and decided, and the college had won the most signal 
of victories upon the fundamental issue of the impair- 
ment of contracts. Despised as was this issue by all of 
the college's attorneys, Webster included, it was 
squarely upon it, and upon nothing else, that John 
Marshall and his colleagues in 1819 based their famous 
decision ; and the principal importance of that decision 
arose from the solemn proclamation which it accord- 
ingly contained both of the inviolability of the provi- 
sions of the constitution and the transcendant power of 
the federal government. " If," as has been suggested, 
" the whole cause had been subject to review, it might 
well have been decided upon one of the other grounds, 
and thus it would not have become one of the great 
landmarks of constitutional history." l 

When it became known that neither Mason nor 
Smith was able, or willing, to assume the conduct of 
the college's case before the Supreme Court, the task, 
by the common consent of those interested, was en- 
trusted to Webster. As late as September 4, 1817, he 
writes to Mason, however, that he "has not thought 
of the subject, nor made the least preparation," and 
that he is " willing to be considered as belonging to 
the cause and to talk about it, and consult about it, 
but should do no good by undertaking an argument." 
November 27th he writes that he has "engaged to 

1 McCall, "Daniel Webster," p. 25. 



118 DANIEL WEBSTER 

keep hold " of the case in the event that he should go 
to Washington during the winter, and that if the man- 
agement of the case should fall to him he should ex- 
pect to make liberal use of the briefs prepared by 
Mason and Smith upon the subject. December 8th he 
writes to Smith : "If I argue this cause at Washing- 
ton, every one knows I can only be the reciter of the 
argument made by you at Exeter. You are, therefore, 
principally interested, as to the matter of reputation, 
in the figure I make at Washington. Nothing will be 
expected of me but decent delivery of your matter." l 
During the winter months preparation for the han- 
dling of the case was pushed, when other and exacting 
duties permitted. Liberal use was made of the briefs, 
and of the occasional advice, of Mason and Smith, and 
in the substance of the argument which was put in shape 
there was, as Webster was the first to affirm, little or 
nothing that was original. Here, as upon many another 
occasion, the skill of the man displayed itself peculiarly 
in the selection and adaptation of contributions made 
by other minds. His own personal contribution was 
to be oratorical, rather than strictly legal. 

As associate counsel Webster selected a close per- 
sonal friend, Joseph Hopkinson, an old-school lawyer 
of Philadelphia whose practice in the federal courts 
was extended. The case for the state fell into hands 
rather less capable than those of Bartlett and Sullivan. 
The attorneys whom Webster and Hopkinson were 
called upon to meet were John Holmes, of Maine, and 
the Attorney-General of the United States, William 
Wirt. Holmes was an influential Democratic poli- 
tician, but an indifferent lawyer. Wirt was a man of 

1 Webster to Smith, December 8, 1817. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. I, p. 268. 



LAW AND OEATOEY IN MASSACHUSETTS 119 

distinction and of unquestioned ability j but at the 
present juncture he was so preoccupied with other 
business that he quite neglected to prepare for the 
Dartmouth case, and when he appeared in it he made 
a rather pitiable showing. If, however, his opponents 
were not formidable, the task which Webster had as- 
sumed was, none the less, by no means an easy one. 
He must bring the Supreme Court to a decision adverse 
to that just rendered by the highest tribunal of New 
Hampshire — a judgment which he had himself been 
obliged to admit was "able, plausible, and ingenious." 
He must accomplish this, furthermore, by the employ- 
ment of a course of reasoning (respecting the impair- 
ment of contracts) in which he had not hitherto placed 
great faith ; and it was the judgment of many disin- 
terested members of the bar that he had insufficient 
ground upon which to build a successful plea. 

The argument of the case, opened March 10, 1818, 
occupied upward of three days. By reason of the 
fact that the Capitol had not yet been rebuilt, the sit- 
tings of the Court were held in a small and ill-adapted 
apartment. Audiences were therefore meagre, al- 
though upon this occasion they were select, being com- 
posed principally of men of the legal profession who 
had been attracted, in some instances from considerable 
distances, by the fame of the case and of the advocates. 
The case was opened by Webster. According to Dr. 
Chauncey A. Goodrich, a Yale professor, who was 
present upon the occasion, Webster entered upon his 
argument in a tone of easy and dignified conversation. 
"His matter was so completely at his command that 
he scarcely looked at his brief, but went on for more 
than four hours with a statement so luminous, and a 
chain of reasoning so easy to be understood, and yet 



120 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

approaching so nearly to absolute demonstration, that 
he seemed to carry with him every man of his audience 
without the slightest effort or uneasiness on either side. 
It was hardly eloquence in the strict sense of the term ; 
it was pure reason. Now and then, for a sentence or 
two, his eye flashed and his voice swelled into a 
bolder note, as he uttered some emphatic thought ; but 
he instantly fell back into the tone of earnest conver- 
sation which ran throughout the great body of the 
speech." 1 

Complete mastery of the law and facts, remarkable 
simplicity and cogency in the elaboration of his argu- 
ment, profound and even passionate devotion to his 
client — these were Webster's principal assets in the 
prosecution of his cause. Nowhere has his speech been 
preserved in full. An abridged revision of it was in- 
corporated in the Supreme Court reports, and this is 
the document which has found a place in the published 
editions of Webster's writings. But, as Webster him- 
self one time observed, in the printed document 
"something was left out," that " something" com- 
prising, indeed, a wealth of oratorical outburst and of 
passionate appeal which the reporter adjudged to have 
no place in the dry and sober synopsis of constitutional 
argument contained within the formal record. The 
essential points in the argument, buttressed by varied 
allusion to precedent, and by close and convincing 
reasoning, may be summarized thus : (1) the charter 
of 1769 created a private, and not a public, corpora- 
tion, to administer a charity, in the administration of 
which the twelve trustees had a property, recognized 
by law ; (2) the grant of such a charter constitutes a 
contract between the grantor and successors, on the one 
1 Quoted in Curtis, " Webster,'' Vol. I, p. 169. 



LAW AND OEATOEY IN MASSACHUSETTS 121 

hand, and the grantee and successors, on the other ; 
and (3) the legislation of 1816, by which was taken 
from the trustees the right to exercise the powers of 
visitation and government, and by which this right 
was conferred upon another body of men, comprised 
an impairment of contract, within the meaning of the 
Constitution of the United States, and was therefore 
null and void. The judgment of the state court of New 
Hampshire, it should be observed, had been rendered 
on the ground that the college was a public corporation, 
and that in respect to corporations of a public charac- 
ter there is no contract or agreement which the state 
may not regulate. 

For his arguments of a purely legal nature upon 
these matters Webster relied almost wholly upon the 
briefs and the opinions of Mason and Smith. Even 
here, however, he was far more than " a mere reciter, - ; 
for he welded together the material supplied by his 
elders, supplemented it from the resources of his own 
learning, and poured forth the whole in a flood of 
surpassing eloquence which invested the subject with 
interest and meaning undreamed of by those whose 
knowledge of the case was more academic. Nor did 
the speaker content himself with precedents and logic. 
He did not scruple to appeal with all the power that 
was in him to the emotions, and even to the political 
susceptibilities, of his hearers, and especially of the 
members of the Court. Of the seven j nstices, two — 
Marshall and Washington — Webster was confident 
he could carry with him ; two others — Todd and 
Duvall — he could hardly expect to move ; the remain- 
ing three — Story, Livingston, and Johnson — were not 
at the outset favorably inclined, but might be won 
over. One stroke Webster conceived to be of the 



122 DANIEL WEBSTER 

greatest strategic importance, namely, to arouse the 
political feelings of the Chief Justice and to enlist 
his sympathy for the college as a surviving but 
sorely beset bulwark of Federalism. To this end 
a considerable portion of the speech was deliberately 
devoted ; and with such consummate art was the 
appeal made that it is commonly believed that, 
had it been necessary, Marshall would probably have 
brought about a decision in the college's favor by 
the sheer force of his dominating influence within the 
Court. 1 

The peroration of the Dartmouth College speech and 
the scene attending it, as described by eye-witnesses, 
have hardly been paralleled in the history of modern 
oratory. The formal argument ended, Webster paused 
some seconds while every eye was riveted upon him 
and the silence became almost oppressive. "This, 
sir," he concluded, " is my case. It is the case not 
merely of that humble institution, it is the case of 
every college in our land. It is the case of every 
eleemosynary institution throughout our country — of 
all those great charities founded by the piety of our 
ancestors, to alleviate human misery and scatter bless- 
ings along the pathway of life. . . . Sir, you may 
destroy this little institution ; it is weak ; it is in your 
hands ! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the 
literary horizon of our country. You may put it out. 
But, if you do so, you must carry through your work ! 
You must extinguish, one after another, all those 
greater lights of science which, for more than a cen- 
tury, have thrown their radiance over our land ! It is, 
sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are 

those who love it " 

1 Lodge, "Webster," p. 89. 



LAW AND OEATOEY IN MASSACHUSETTS 123 

At this point, as the episode is described by Dr. 
Goodrich, the emotion which the speaker had so far 
succeeded in holding in restraint broke forth. His 
lips quivered, his cheeks trembled, his voice choked, 
and his eyes tilled with tears. In words of exquisite 
tenderness he continued, in broken voice, to express his 
personal anxiety for the college. " The whole,' ' says 
Dr. Goodrich, " seemed to be mingled throughout with 
the recollections of father, mother, brother, and all the 
privations and trials through which he had made his 
way in life. Every one saw that it was wholly un- 
premeditated, a pressure on his heart, which sought 
relief in words and tears. The court-room during 
these two or three minutes presented an extraordinary 
spectacle. Chief Justice Marshall, with his tall and 
gaunt figure bent over, as if to catch the slightest 
whisper, the deep furrows of his cheek expanded with 
emotion, and his eyes suffused with tears ; Mr. Justice 
Washington at his side, with his small and emaciated 
frame and countenance more like marble than I ever 
saw on any other human being — leaning forward with 
an eager, troubled look ; and the remainder of the 
court, at the two extremities, pressing, as it were, 
toward a single point, while the audience below were 
wrapping themselves round in closer folds beneath the 
bench, to catch each look and every movement of the 
speaker's face." Eecovering his composure and fix- 
ing his eye upon the Chief Justice, Webster drew 
himself up to his full height and in the tone of majesty 
with which he sometimes thrilled an audience declared : 
" Sir, I know not how others may feel, but, for myself, 
when I see my Alma Mater surrounded, like Csesar in 
the senate-house, by those who are reiterating stab after 
stab, I would not, for this right hand, have her turn to 



124 DANIEL WEBSTER 

me, and say, Et tu quoque ml fill I And thou too, my 

son ! " ' 

During the ensuing days the case was argued further 
by the opposing counsel, Holmes and Wirt, and by 
Webster's associate, Hopkinson. The substance of the 
opposition's contention was (1) that the charter was 
not a contract ; (2) that all corporations were ter- 
minated by the Eevolution ; (3) that the charter, if a 
contract, had not been impaired ; and (4) that, both 
parties belouging to the same state, the Supreme Court 
lacked jurisdiction. Holmes's speech Webster pro- 
nounced " three hours of the merest stuff that was ever 
uttered in a county court." Of Wirt's effort he had a 
higher opinion, although he was unable to see that the 
Attorney-General brought forward an iota of either 
new matter or new reasoning. ' ' I believe, ' ' wrote Web- 
ster to Mason on the day after the closing of the hear- 
ing, "I may say that nearly or quite all the bar are 
with us. How the court will be I have no means of 
knowing. " 2 A day later he wrote to Smith : " I think 
we shall finally succeed." 

On the morning of March 13th the Chief Justice an- 
nounced that the Court had conferred, that there were 
differing opinions, that some of the justices had not 
formed opinions, and that, accordingly, a decision 
would not be immediately forthcoming. The following 
day the Court adjourned. During the several months 
which intervened before the opening of a new term 
there was carried on by the counsel and friends of the 
college an adroit campaign for the conversion of those 

1 Quoted in Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, pp. 169-171. The 
speech is printed in " Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 462-501, 
and "Writings and Speeches," Vol. X, pp. 194-233. 

2 Webster to Mason, March 13, 1818. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence, " Vol. I, p. 276. 



LAW AND OEATOEY IN MASSACHUSETTS 125 

members of the Court — Livingston, Johnson, and 
Story — who were believed to be wavering in their 
opinion. The state, at the same time, prepared for a 
renewal of the contest and engaged as counsel William 
Pinkney, acknowledged leader of the American bar. 
When the Court convened, however, the Chief Justice 
brushed aside all preparations for a rehearing of 1 he 
case and announced forthwith that a decision had been 
arrived at. The judgment which Marshall then made 
public, February, 1819, takes rank among the most 
far-reaching and influential in American history. The 
college charter, it was held, was a contract ; the acts 
of the New Hampshire legislature constituted an im- 
pairment of it, in the meaning of the Constitution of 
the United States ; these acts were, accordingly, void. 
The arguments of Webster were sustained at every 
point. The Chief Justice and four associates supported 
the opinion ; one justice, Todd, was absent ; only one, 
Duvall, dissented. Even Story, who had accepted 
membership on the opposition board of trustees, 
acquiesced in the majority opinion. At a single point 
only had the Supreme Court passed hitherto upon the 
meaning and scope of the constitutional provision 
relating to contracts. It had been ruled that a grant 
of land made by a state constituted a contract whose 
obligation it was beyond the competence of the state to 
impair. By the Dartmouth College decision, however, 
there was brought within the scope of the constitutional 
guarantee, by implication, every charter and similar 
instrument conferred within a state. The independ- 
ence of the states in the administration of all contrac- 
tual affairs was sharply curtailed, the pervading power 
of the federal government under the Constitution was 
correspondingly exalted, and a fundamental principle 



126 DANIEL WEBSTER 

of law was laid down which, although again and again 
assailed since Marshall's day, has never been over- 
thrown. 1 

It is the opinion of most persons conversant with 
the career of Webster that he seldom equalled, and 
never surpassed, the brilliance of his pleading in this 
memorable case. The great jurist, Chancellor Kent, 
confessed to have been changed completely in his views 
of the merits of the case by a mere reading of the con- 
densed report of Webster's speech. The case was not 
the first which Webster had argued before the Supreme 
Court, but through it he attained at a stroke a place 
among the three or four most emineut practitioners at 
the bar of that tribunal, and in general it may be said 
that after 1819 his position as an advocate was 
hardly second to that of Pinkney, Wirt, or any of his 
older contemporaries. Of his own generation there 
was no one whose legal ability and fame could be 
regarded as in any sense the equal of his. Clay was a 
consummate parliamentarian, but only an ordinary 
lawyer. Calhoun knew a great deal of law, but never 
practiced. 

In the midst of a lucrative professional activity 
Webster was called upon not long thereafter to render a 
service of distinguished character to his adopted state. 
The separation of Maine from Massachusetts in 1820, 
together with certain other exigencies of the time, 
stimulated a movement for the revision of the constitu- 
tion of the commonwealth, and a convention was 
elected to undertake the task. The assemblage met at 
Boston in November, 1820, and continued its delibera- 

1 In consequence of the decision Dr. Brown and the " old " board 
of trustees took possession of the insignia and property of the 
college. Wheelook himself had died in 1817. 






LAW AND OKATOliY IN MASSACHUSETTS 127 

tions until the following January. It was composed 
of some five hundred members and included practically 
all of the ablest men of the commonwealth — members 
of Congress, state officials, the federal judges, leaders 
at the bar and in business, and representatives of every 
important class, profession, and interest. John Adams, 
then in his eighty-fifth year, and one of the few surviv- 
ing framers of the constitution of 1780, was honored by 
election to the presidency of the convention, although 
by reason of infirmity he declined to serve and the 
duties of the chair fell to Chief Justice Parker. Among 
the delegates representing Boston was Webster. 

In most respects the constitution of 1780 had proved 
a very satisfactory instrument, and there was little or 
no demand in 1820 that it be set aside entirely. As to 
the extent and nature of the changes that should be 
introduced in it, however, there was much difference 
of opinion. The period was one in which political 
parties as such can scarcely be said to have existed. 
There was, none the less, a pretty sharply drawn issue 
between the radical and the conservative wings of the 
convention, which but reflected far-reaching divisions 
of sentiment among the inhabitants of the state. 
Since 1780 there had been a remarkable growth of 
democratic opinion, and the force of this opinion in 
1820 was directed toward the elimination of numerous 
eighteenth-century principles and governmental forms 
from the constitutional system. In opposition to the 
radical revisionists stood a substantial body of conserv- 
atives, ready to acquiesce in certain modifications, 
but disposed to resist all changes not regarded as ab- 
solutely necessary. Webster was identified, in the 
main, with the conservative group, and throughout 
the proceedings of the convention no member, with the 



128 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

possible exception of Joseph Story, exercised a more 
potent influence in behalf of the sane and judicious 
adjustment of the problems in hand. He delivered a 
number of formal speeches and participated freely in 
impromptu discussion. He served as chairman of two 
important committees. And when, upon several occa- 
sions, he was called by Chief Justice Parker to occupy 
the chair, he presided with a dignity and ability so 
noteworthy that men were moved to comment upon his 
peculiar qualification for the speakership of the na- 
tional House — a post of responsibility which, however, 
he was destined never to occupy. 

The questions to whose settlement Webster con- 
tributed most during the deliberations of the conven- 
tion pertained to three subjects : the character of the 
oath of office, the basis of representation in the senate, 
and the independence of the judiciary. The constitu- 
tion of 1780 prescribed as a feature of the oath of office 
a declaration of belief in the Christian religion. In a 
speech of remarkable cogency 1 Webster demonstrated 
that while the existing requirement did not operate, as 
in certain quarters it had been alleged to do, to de- 
prive some men of the right to public office— because 
no man has such a right— it was not in harmony with 
the fundamental principle of liberty of conscience, and 
was, moreover, in practice, unnecessary. A people so 
predominantly Christian as were the inhabitants of 
Massachusetts would be very unlikely to elect to pub- 
lic office a disbeliever. If they should do so, it must 
be because they were not disposed to insist upon an 
avowal of belief in Christianity as a necessary qualifi- 
cation. In any case, the test imposed by the present 
constitution was non-essential, and, being so, undesir- 
1 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 3-7. 



LAW AND ORATORY IN MASSACHUSETTS 129 

able. Under the influence principally of this logic the 
convention was brought to a decision to eliminate from 
the oath all reference to religious opinion ; and from 
that day no religious qualification has been required 
of office-holders within the state. 

A second question to which Webster addressed him- 
self with notable force and effectiveness was that of the 
basis of representation in the senate. Here his part 
was to avert, rather than to encourage, change. Under 
the constitution of 1780 members of the upper house 
were chosen by the voters in districts in proportion to 
taxable property. Members of the lower house were 
apportioned according to population. By 1820 the 
growth of democratic ideas, especially in the rural por- 
tions of the state, had been such that a very consider- 
able element of the people had come to look upon the 
composition of the senate as archaic, aristocratic, and 
indefensible. It was urgently demanded that the con- 
stitution be so amended as to provide for an appor- 
tionment of both senators and representatives accord- 
ing to population. It fell to Webster to develop in a 
carefully prepared speech 1 the theory of bicameral 
legislative bodies and to demonstrate the advantages 
that may be expected to arise from a constitution of 
the two houses upon bases that are not identical, to the 
end that the one chamber may not become a mere 
replica of the other, and that each may constitute a 
proper check upon the other. While it was beyond 
serious question that one house should be apportioned 
wholly to population, into the apportionment of the 
other, it was urged, property— not in the sense of mere 
personal interests, but in the sense of the great per- 
manent interest whose protection is one of the func- 
» <' Writings and Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 8-25. 



130 DANIEL WEBSTER 

tions of society — should always enter. The view was 
not a popular one, but by sheer force of persuasion 
Webster carried his point, and the existing provision 
of the constitution was left untouched. Every student 
of political science to-day recognizes in Webster's ex- 
position of the theory of legislative bodies numerous 
arguments that are unanswerable. It was only in 
later years, after the spell of Webster's influence had 
been somewhat relaxed, that the composition of the 
Massachusetts senate was modified in accordance with 
the popular demand. 

A third subject upon which Webster expended no 
small amount of effort in the convention was the inde- 
pendence of the judiciary. After the analogy of Eng- 
lish practice, the constitution of 1780, while stipulat- 
ing a judicial tenure of good behavior, provided that 
a judge might be removed by the governor on an ad- 
dress from the legislature. A simple majority of the 
legislature was competent to issue the address; no 
reasons need be assigned ; and the official in question 
was guaranteed no opportunity for defense. Many 
men, including Webster, felt that under these ar- 
rangements judges were too much subject to the whim 
of the legislative chambers. It was therefore proposed 
that the constitution be so amended as to require that 
an address of removal be passed by a two-thirds vote 
of each house, that reasons should be assigned, and 
that an accused official should be given an opportunity 
to bring in a defense. A masterful speech of Webster » 
failed to carry conviction and the proposed amendment 
was lost. On Webster's motion, however, it was stip- 
ulated in the revised constitution that no address for the 
removal of a judicial officer should be passed in either 
1 "Writings and Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 26-32. 



LAW AND OEATOEY IN MASSACHUSETTS 131 

branch of the legislature until the reasons therefor 
should have been entered upon the records and the ac- 
cused should have been admitted to a hearing in his 
own behalf in each house. 

All in all, the part taken by Webster in the conven- 
tion was one of peculiar distinction. "Our friend 
Webster," wrote Judge Story to Mr. Mason, "has 
gaiued a noble reputation. He was before known as a 
lawyer ; but he has now secured the title of an emi- 
nent and enlightened statesman. It was a glorious 
field for him, and he has had an ample harvest. The 
whole force of his great mind was brought out, and in 
several speeches he commanded universal admiration. 
He always led the van, and was most skilful and in- 
stantaneous in attack and retreat. . . . On the 
whole, I never was more proud of any display than his 
in my life, and I am much deceived if the well-earned 
popularity, so justly and so boldly acquired by him 
on this occasion, does not carry him, if he lives, to the 
presidency." ! 

While the deliberations of the convention were in 
progress, there came on the two hundredth anniversary 
of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Early in 
the year citizens of Plymouth, together with descendants 
of the Pilgrims elsewhere, organized the " Pilgrim So- 
ciety," whose purpose was "to commemorate the land- 
ing, and to honor the memory, of the intrepid men who 
first set foot on Plymouth Eock." It was determined 
to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary with un- 
usual elaborateness, and Webster was chosen to deliver 
the oration. The invitation carried with it a magnifi- 
cent opportunity. The occasion, the subject, the hear - 

1 Story to Mason, January 21, 1821. W. Story, " Life and Let- 
ters of Joseph Story," Vol. I, pp. 395-396. 



132 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ing — all were such as to inspire to the loftiest endeavor. 
And when, on the 22d of December, the orator rose 
before an audience that filled and overflowed the old 
First Church, he was in every sense prepared for an 
effort worthy of the day. Already the fame of his 
eloquence at the bar, on the floor of Congress, and in 
the constitutional convention then in session had 
covered the land. Whether he should be able to seize 
upon a striking historical event, interpret it in the 
light of the development of a growing nation, and at- 
tain the summit of polished speech in an address in- 
tended neither to convince a judge nor to mold the 
course of a deliberative assembly, remained to be de- 
termined. Within the domai n of purely ' ' occasional ' ' 
oratory his efforts hitherto had been confined almost 
entirely to Fourth of July speeches, a Phi Beta Kappa 
oration at Dartmouth in 1809 upon a purely literary 
theme, and an address in 1812 before the Washington 
Benevolent Society of Portsmouth upon a theme purely 
political. But people who knew the man and were 
familiar with the depths of his feeling did not hesitate 
to expect of him upon this occasion the greatest things. 
The test was met with a splendid achievement. By 
some it has even been maintained that Webster himself 
never subsequently rose in sheer eloquence above the 
height attained in the Plymouth oration. In this 
judgment it is hardly possible to concur, for in the 
present effort there lingered a quality of grandioseness 
which is happily lacking in the Bunker Hill speech of 
1825, the eulogy on Adams and Jefferson in 1826, and 
other orations of subsequent years. Yet in loftiness of 
conception and eloquence of diction the Plymouth ad- 
dress was unquestionably superior to anything of the 
kind which had been heard in America within a gen- 



LAW AND ORATORY IN MASSACHUSETTS 133 

eration. Its stirring portrayal of the hardships of the 
Pilgrims both before and after migration, its masterful 
characterization of those institutions which lay at the 
basis of New England society in colonial times, its 
tribute to the fundamental principles of republicanism 
upon which the nation of later days was built, its com- 
pelling survey of the whole stretch of American civi- 
lization and achievement, were destined to classical 
celebrity. Especially notable was the peroration, dur- 
ing the course of whose delivery the speaker stood with 
arms outstretched as if to welcome the oncoming gen- 
erations of men to whom it was addressed. u Ad- 
vance, then, ye future generations ! We would hail 
you, as you rise in your long succession to fill the 
places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of 
existence where we are passing, and soon shall have 
passed, our own human duration. We bid you wel- 
come to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you 
welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant fields of 
New England. We greet your accession to the great 
inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you 
to the blessings of good government and religious 
liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science 
and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the 
transcendent sweets of domestic life, to the happiness 
of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome 
you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, 
the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of 
everlasting truth.' ' * 

" I was never so excited by public speaking before 
in my life, " afterward wrote George Ticknor. ' ' Three 
or four times I thought my temples would burst with 

l " Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 49-50; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. I, pp. 225-226. 



134 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the gush of blood. When I came out I was almost 
afraid to come near to him. It seemed to me as if he 
was like the mount that might not be touched and that 
burned with fire. I was beside myself, and am so 
still. ' ' ' And Ticknor, while an admirer and, upon 
the present occasion, a traveling-companion, was by 
nature cool and critical. The effect of the discourse 
was to place Webster at once in advance of all con- 
temporary orators, at least in the judgment of most 
American critics. " Mr. Burke," wrote John Adams, 
" is no longer entitled to the praise — the most consum- 
mate orator of modern times." Within a year the 
oration was put in print — rather more, indeed, than 
was actually spoken during the upward of two hours 
occupied by the delivery — and circulated broadcast 
over the country. The reception with which it met 
was rivaled only by that accorded the " Sketch Book " 
and other works of Washington Irving then appearing. 

1 Quoted in Lodge, " Webster," p. 118. 



CHAPTEE VI 

IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 

In the autumn of 1822 a number of the prominent 
men of Boston persuaded Webster to accept a nomina- 
tion as representative of the Suffolk district in Con- 
gress. The nomination was tendered formally, and 
unanimously, by a body of delegates representing the 
various wards comprised within the urban district. 
When the proposition was broached Webster was in- 
clined to demur, and there is reason for the belief that 
when eventually he yielded to public demand he did so 
in contravention of his actual desires. Acceptance 
meant the abandoning, in at least some measure, of his 
lucrative and absorbing legal practice ; and, since he 
had assumed the indebtedness of his father to prevent 
the paternal estate from being declared insolvent, his 
financial position was not yet such that he could con- 
template with equanimity the impairment of his yearly 
income. And, even if it be assumed that Webster 
had in mind a return to public life, it may be inferred 
that, having already spent four years in the lower 
house at Washington, he would now have preferred 
some other and more exalted station. But the people 
of Boston would not have it otherwise than that he 
should represent them in the Eighteenth Congress, and, 
indeed, in the two succeeding congresses, to which they 
reelected him almost unanimously. l " Mr. Webster, " 

1 He was returned to his seat at the election of 1824 by a vote of 
4,990 in a total poll of 5,000. 



\ 



136 DANIEL WEBSTER 

declared a member of the committee appointed to wait 
on him in 1822, " I come to ask you to throw down 
your law books and enter the service of the public ; for 
to the public you belong. I know what sacrifices we 
demand of you, but we must rely on your patriotism. 
We cannot take a refusal." 1 Against the force of 
such an appeal Webster found it impossible to hold out. 
He accepted, and in the following November he was 
elected by an overwhelming majority. 

The six years of congressional service thus inaugu- 
rated comprised a distinctly active and useful period 
in Webster's public career. During the interim since 
his retirement in 1817 he had made great strides in 
both reputation and ability. By reason of the Dart- 
mouth College case, the Plymouth oration, the succes- 
sion of masterly efforts in the constitutional conven- 
tion of 1820, and scores of notable victories at the bar, 
both state and federal, his position had come to be that 
of the most widely-known and most commanding New 
Englander, with the possible exception of John Quincy 
Adams. Since the death of Pinkney, in 1822, he had 
become unquestionably the foremost of advocates at 
the American bar. The Eighteenth Congress, in 
which he took his seat in December, 1823, was much 
the superior of its predecessor in ability and influence. 
Clay was again a member of the House of Representa- 
tives, and with him appeared Forsyth, Crowninshield, 
Randolph, Edward Livingston, McLane, Tod, Taylor, 
Barbour, and Sam Houston. Webster reentered the 
House with outlook broadened, spirit chastened, and 
patriotism undiminished, and it was to be expected that 
he should be accounted from the first one of the half- 
dozen ablest members of the body. With peculiar fit- 

1 Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, p. 198. 



IN CONGKESS AGAItf, 1823-1827 137 

ness Clay, once more elected Speaker, appointed him 
to the important post of chairman of the Committee 
on the Judiciary. 

Politically, the situation in Congress, and through- 
out the country, in 1823 was very different from that 
which obtained in 1817. During the six years of 
Webster's absence from Washington there had occurred 
an almost complete dissolution of political parties. 
There were still Federalists who called themselves by 
the time-honored party name and who, in respect to 
their principles, were as irreconcilable as a decade 
earlier. But they were not numerous or influential, 
and in the forthcoming campaign for the presidency 
they gave promise of cutting little or no figure. The 
great mass of people in all sections of the country had 
been absorbed by the broadly nationalized Eepublican 
party, which, indeed, by reason of the very complete- 
ness of its triumph, had largely ceased to maintain the 
essential qualities of a party. According to the 
school-books of later days the era was one of " good 
feeling." In point of fact, there are not more than 
two or three epochs in our national history in which 
political feeling was more intense, bitter, and personal. 
What was nominally the great party of Jefferson and 
Madison and Monroe was in truth little more than a 
congeries of jealous and struggling groups, each led by, 
or rallying around, some one of the half-dozen active 
presidential aspirants of the day — Clay, Calhoun, 
Crawford, Jackson, Clinton, John Quincy Adams. 

In the midst of a situation so confused the political 
inclinations of Webster were for a time uncertain and 
anomalous. Throughout his public career he had beeu 
accustomed to stand as a matter of course with the 
Federalists, although, as has appeared, he was not 



138 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

averse to a break with the majority of his party when 
occasion seemed to him to demand an independent 
course of action ; and he had never been identified with 
the reactionary and irreconcilable New England element 
which had been wont to delight in factious opposition 
for its own sake. During the earlier months of the new 
Congress every political leader and group angled with 
more or less skill for the support of the Federalist 
members, with the consequence that a minority ele- 
ment which had no program or prospects of its own 
was exalted occasionally to a position of influence al- 
together disproportionate to its numerical strength. 
Webster, still inclined to the opinion that political 
parties are essentially an evil, was not displeased with 
the untrammeled position in which he found himself. 
He set out to be essentially a free lance, and through- 
out his three terms he held aloof persistently from a 
number of political groups, any one of which would 
gladly have welcomed his accession to its ranks. 
Eventually, with the re-formation, in the late twenties, 
of definite party lines, Webster became again perforce 
a party man. But he never gloried in the affairs of 
party as such, and it may be doubted whether in his 
own judgment the greater brilliance of later stages of 
his career ever quite compensated for the loss of indi- 
vidual independence involved in party allegiance. 

The period covered by the Eighteenth Congress was 
one of exceptional importance, not alone in respect to 
the unfolding of the domestic political situation, but 
by reason of a state of affairs abroad which stimulated 
wide spread interest and at times occasioned serious 
apprehension. The questions at home which elicited 
most attention were those relating to the tariff and in- 
ternal improvements, and the most striking event was 



IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 139 

the election of John Quincy Adams to the presidency 
by the House of Representatives. The principal for- 
eign questions were those arising from the revolt of 
the Spanish American colonies and the threatened ac- 
tivities of the Holy Alliance. 

The first issue to which Webster addressed himself 
in a deliberate manner after the opening of the ses- 
sion of 1823-1824 was one which arose from con- 
temporary developments in the remoter portions of 
Europe, notably the struggle of the Greeks for inde- 
pendence from Turkey. As has already appeared, 
Webster from boyhood cherished a living interest in 
European politics, and his correspondence, even as a 
college student, abounds in allusions to men and affairs 
on the other side of the Atlantic. He had watched 
with solicitude the rise and predominance of Napoleon ; 
he had followed with satisfaction the collapse of the 
Corsican's dominion ; he had viewed with apprehen- 
sion the reaction which followed the Congress of 
Vienna, and particularly the designs of the Holy 
Alliance upon liberalism, both in Europe and beyond. 
At the present moment he was moved to enthusiasm by 
the magnificent contest for independence which the 
successors of the ancient Hellenes were waging against 
the semi-barbaric and cruel power of Turkey. This 
contest had begun in 1821. In 1822 a national as- 
sembly had proclaimed the independence of Greece 
and made provision for the organization of an autono- 
mous government. No nation had as yet recognized 
the independence of the country, but in the opinion 
of Webster the time had arrived, by the end of 1823, 
when the United States ought to set the timid and reac- 
tionary powers of Europe an example by doing so. 
December 8th, but a few days after the opening of the 



140 DANIEL WEBSTER 

session, he introduced in the House a resolution to the 
effect that provision ought to be made by law for de- 
fraying the expenses incident to the appointment of an 
agent or commissioner to Greece, whenever the Presi- 
dent should deem it expedient to make such an ap- 
pointment. The resolution was not introduced until 
its author had conferred privately with a number of 
men, all of whom gave the project their approval. 
From various quarters, however, it encountered sub- 
stantial opposition. Many members professed to be- 
lieve its adoption would precipitate war, and many 
others feared that by the powers of Europe the action 
which was proposed would be interpreted as a piece of 
sheer meddling in a situation that was of no immediate 
concern to the United States. The Administration, al- 
ready committed to the maintenance of a firm attitude 
apropos the threatened interference of the Allies in 
Latin America, hesitated to give the resolution its sup- 
port, although in his famous message of December 2d, 
President Monroe had gone so far as to express the 
opinion that there was reason to hope for the eventual 
triumph of the Greek cause. " The pinch is," wrote 
Webster to Everett, " that in the message the Presi- 
dent has takeu, as is supposed, pretty high ground as 
to this continent, and is afraid of the appearance of 
interfering in the concerns of the other continent 
also." To the author of the resolution himself this 
consideration appealed with little force. " I think," 
he maintained, ' i we have as much community with 
the Greeks as with the inhabitants of the Andes and 
the dwellers on the borders of the Vermilion sea." l 
On January 19, 1824, the resolution came up for 

1 Webster to Everett, December 6, 1823. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p, 332, 



IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 141 

consideration in committee of the whole, and in 
advocacy of it Webster delivered a very notable 
speech. Expecting a dazzling display of oratory upon 
a theme which so readily lent itself to passionate ap- 
peal, listeners crowded the galleries. Webster's pur- 
pose, however, reached far beyond the delivery of a 
merely brilliant oration, and in truth the speech was 
so sober and restrained that some of the hearers were 
doubtless a bit disappointed. "My intention," the 
speaker had written to Everett, " is to justify the res- 
olution against two classes of objections, those that 
suppose it not to go far enough, and those that sup- 
pose it to go too far. Then, to give some little history 
of the Greek revolution, express a pretty strong con- 
viction of its ultimate success, and persuade the 
House, if I can, to take the merit of being the first 
government, among all the civilized nations, who 
have publicly rejoiced in the emancipation of Greece." » 
Brushing aside all considerations of sentiment arising 
from the classical associations of the Greek peninsula, 
Webster devoted himself to (1) an exposition of the 
reactionary principles of the European powers, as 
developed in successive congresses from that of Paris 
in 1814 to that of Laibach in 1821 ; (2) an argument to 
the effect that, while the United States might not 
properly interfere in European affairs, she was none the 
less obligated by the broader interest of humanity to 
throw her influence squarely against the designs of the 
Allies ; (3) a review of the progress of the revolution 
in Greece, with an optimistic forecast of its outcome ; 
and (4) an appeal that Congress, by passing the pro- 
posed resolution, should at least go so far as to provide 

1 Webster to Everett, December 21, 1823. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 336. 



142 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the President with the means of recognizing the new 
Greek nation whenever he should deem it the part of 
discretion to do so. "They [the Greeks] look to us," 
he declared in closing, " as the great Eepublic of the 
earth — and they ask us by our common faith, whether 
we can forget that they are struggling, as we once 
struggled, for what we now so happily enjoy? I can- 
not say, sir, that they will succeed : that rests with 
heaven. But for myself, sir, if I should to-morrow 
hear that they have failed — that their last phalanx had 
sunk beneath the Turkish scimitar, that the flames of 
their last city had sunk in its ashes, and that naught 
remained but the wide melancholy waste where Greece 
once was, I should still reflect, with the most heartfelt 
satisfaction, that I have asked you, in the name of 
seven millions of freemen, that you would give them at 
least the cheering of one friendly voice. ' ' 1 

During the lively discussion that ensued Webster's 
resolution was warmly defended by Clay, who brought 
forward another of similar purport with reference to 
the intervention of European powers in the affairs of 
Latin America. Poinsett, of South Carolina, offered 
an amendment to the effect that no appropriation for a 
Grecian mission should be voted, but that Congress 
should promulgate a formal declaration of American 
sympathy with the Greeks and of good wishes for their 
cause. John Randolph emptied upon the original 
project, and upon its author, all the vials of his wrath. 
It became apparent that the resolution could not pass, 
even in the form of the Poinsett amendment ; where- 
upon Webster reluctantly abandoned the effort, and no 

1 " Annals of Congress," 18th Cong., 1st sess., Vol. I, p. 1099. For 
the speech see "Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 60-93, and 
44 Writings and Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 60-93. 



IN CONGKESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 143 

vote was taken. Three more years elapsed before the 
powers of Europe took it upon themselves, first to offer 
mediation in Greece, and subsequently to intervene ; 
and the final independence of the Greek nation was not 
established until 1832. By his resolution and speech 
Webster did not affect in any overt manner the official 
attitude of the United States respecting the situation. 
He had, however, achieved his deeper purpose of ex- 
posing the reactionary principles which at that time 
dominated the policies of the European powers and of 
setting the United States still more firmly in opposition 
to them. Between the Greek resolution and the Mon- 
roe Doctrine there was a closer relation than is apt 
nowadays to be perceived. Alluding half-humorously, 
as late as 1831, to a recently published collection of his 
orations, Webster said of the Greek speech that he was 
"more fond of this child than of any of the family. " 
Certainly it attracted wider attention than any other. 
"Mr. Webster's speech," reported a friend of Henry 
A. S. Dearborn in London, "has been received with 
general approbation and applause. It has been trans- 
lated into Greek and printed in London, in order to be 
distributed all over Greece. I am happy that the 
Demosthenes of America has taken the lead in encour- 
aging and animating the countrymen of his great pro- 
totype." l The speech was, in fact, translated into 
most of the European languages and was circulated 
not only in Europe but throughout Latin America. 
In sheer oratorical quality it was inferior to some of 
its predecessors, but its subject, combined with its 
authorship, gave it a world-wide interest. 
As has been stated, Webster occupied in the Eight - 

1 Dearborn to Webster, May 4, 1824. Van Tyne, " Letters of 
Daniel Webster," p. 104. 



144 DANIEL WEBSTER 

eenth Congress the position of chairman of the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary. In this capacity it fell to him 
to handle a considerable number of questions relating 
to the extension and the reorganization of the federal 
judicial system. The time was ripe for an increase of 
the number of justices attached to the Supreme Court, 
or, in lieu of that, the creation of new tribunals whereby 
the Supreme Court might be relieved of a portion of 
the work which devolved upon it, and Webster would 
have been happy to devote himself without delay to 
the preparation and promotion of legislative measures 
directed toward these ends. The obstacles to be over- 
come were, however, enormous. In Virginia, in Ken- 
tucky, and other quarters, there was insistent demand 
that the expanding functions of the Supreme Court in 
relation to the passing upon the constitutionality of 
law should be put under restraint, and Webster found 
that he could hardly hope to do more for a time than 
to defend the judicial power as it was against the proj- 
ects that were continually being brought forward for 
its impairment. To Justice Story he writes, January 
4, 1824: "I am in great trouble and perplexity on 
this subject of the courts ; and often wish I was almost 
anywhere rather than where I am. There are difficul- 
ties inherent in the subject ; there are others, more 
formidable, arising from the state of men's opinions." ! 
The most immediate reform which it was desired to 
bring about was the increase of the membership of the 
Supreme Court from seven to nine, 2 to the end, chiefly, 

1 Webster to Story, January 4, 1824. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. I, p. 338. ' 

2 The number of justices of the Supreme Court, fixed at six by 
the act of September, 1789, was reduced to five by the act of Febru- 
ary 7 , 1801, restored to six by the act of March 8, 1802, and increased 
to seven by an act of 1807 under whose terms a new circuit in the 
West was created. 



IN CONGKESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 H5 

that it might not become necessary for the j ustices to 
abandon altogether the practice of holding court, in 
cooperation with the district judges, on circuit. With 
such an increase Webster believed that the country 
could "get along probably for twenty years, or for- 
ever." Early in the Nineteenth Congress, during 
whose term he was continued at the head of the Judi- 
ciary Committee, he framed, with the assistance of 
members of the committee, a judiciary bill and labored 
with incessant zeal to procure its enactment into law. 
The bill provided that the membership of the Supreme 
Court should be increased from seven to ten, that six 
should constitute a quorum, and that the states should 
be divided into ten circuits, with a circuit court in 
each, in which one of the Supreme Court justices 
should at least occasionally sit. The bill was intro- 
duced in the House December 22, 1825. On the 4th 
of January, 1826, its adoption was advocated by its 
author in a speech in which there was reviewed in a 
masterful manner the growth of the American judi- 
ciary and the situation within the domain of federal 
justice which called for the changes which were pro- 
posed. 1 Within three weeks the bill was passed by 
the House, but in the Senate it had no able champion, 
with the result that it came back to the House encum- 
bered with so many amendments as to be scarcely 
recognizable. Upon the amendments the two houses 
failed to agree, and the outcome was that the measure 
was lost. If the West, in whose interest largely the 
bill had been framed, had rallied to its support it 
might easily have been carried. Webster's interest in 
the reform continued unabated, and his correspondence 

l " Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 150-177; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 150-177. 



146 DANIEL WEBSTER 

with Judge Story in succeeding years contained fre- 
quent references to the subject. It was not, however, 
until 1837 that the enlargement of the Court, to nine 
members, with a corresponding increase of the federal 
circuits, took place. It is of interest to observe that 
Webster in 1825 believed that in the future the growth 
of judicial business would be met by " a gradual and 
progressive improvement in the district courts, and 
that so far as the business becomes incapable of being 
performed by the supreme judges on the circuit, the 
duties of the circuit court will be devolved on the dis- 
trict judge." Intermediate circuit judges, such as 
had been provided for by the act of 1801 (repealed 
in 1802) were not likely, in his opinion, ever to be 
required. 

During the closing session of the Eighteenth Con- 
gress Webster introduced and procured the enactment 
of one very important measure relating to the judici- 
ary, namely, the Crimes Act of March 3, 1825. The 
First Congress under the Constitution had enacted, 
under date of April 30, 1790, a carefully drawn crim- 
inal code ; but this body of law was never complete, 
and by 1825 its gaps and deficiencies were glaring and 
serious. With the assistance of Justice Story Webster 
laboriously compiled a criminal code, supplementing 
and amplifying the code of 1790, and for this he con- 
trived, with a good deal of patience and adroitness, to 
procure the approval of Congress. In its final form 
the new code, published in twenty-six sections, made 
provision for every kind of case that had arisen during 
the past thirty-five years, involving the jurisprudence 
of the United States as distinguished from that of the 
several states. And the opinion is avowed by Mr. 
Lodge that the Crimes Act is perhaps the best monu- 






IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 147 

ment that remains of "Webster's purely legislative and 
constructive ability. 1 

Another subject to which some attention was given 
at this time is that of internal improvements. In the 
spring of 1817 Webster had voted for Calhoun's 
"Bonus Bill," and in his conviction of both the con- 
stitutionality and the expediency of a liberal policy of 
road and canal building at the national cost he was not 
shaken by President Madison's veto of that measure. 
During the session of 1824-1825 there was introduced 
in the House a measure providing for the extension of 
the Cumberland Eoad from Wheeling to Zanesville. 
The bill was opposed with vigor by McDuffie, of South 
Carolina, and by others, on the ground that it was 
partial and sectional. In a speech of much force 
IWebster combatted the notion that in the determining 
§f internal improvement policy Congress was obligated 
to attempt to balance the conflicting interests of the 
various sections. If the power existed at all — and 
Webster never doubted that it did — it ought to be 
; exercised for the good of the nation as a whole and 
without regard to sectional concerns. That road or 
canal should be constructed first which was most 
needed, in whatsoever portion of the country it might 
happen to be located. In thus advocating a policy by 
ywhich the settlement of the West might be expected 
|o be promoted Webster broke absolutely with New 
England tradition and planted himself squarely upon 
fie bed-rock of nationalism. Emigration from a more 
densely populated to a less densely populated region 
he regarded as not only inevitable but altogether 
desirable. If, he declared, any of his own constituents 
care to settle " on the Kansas or the Arkansas, or the 

1 Lodge, "Webster," p. 138. 



148 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Lord knows where, within our territory," he should 
cherish not the slightest objection. Let them go and 
be happier if they could. By a legitimate expansion 
of population the wealth and prosperity of the country 
would be increased far more than by any policy whose 
object should be to confine population to the Eastern 
states. The lofty and liberal tone of this argument 
contributed distinctly to the enactment of the present 
bill, and in consequence Webster attained a degree of 
favor throughout the West which hitherto he had not 
enjoyed. "Permit me to say," wrote an Ohio con- 
gressman in 1825, "that with our people no man in 
this uation stands on more elevated ground." 1 

The years of Webster's second period of service in 
Congress comprised throughout the country an epoch 
of intense political rivalry and excitement. At the 
outset Webster himself exhibited indifference toward 
the purely political questions of the day, and at no 
time did he suffer politics to encroach upon the legis- 
lative and professional labors in which he was prima- 
rily interested. In the unfolding of his public career 
the period is, none the less, highly important, because 
here it was that, almost against his own will, he was 
drawn into the gigantic political game that was play- 
ing, and. here it was that he was induced by the sheer 
drift of circumstances to assume a position of leader- 
ship in the new anti-Jackson, National Republican, 
later Whig, party with whose fortunes his subsequent 
career was destined largely to be bound up. As early 
as December, 1823, when he first assumed his seat, the 
question as to who should succeed Monroe in the 
presidency fifteen months hence was claiming the at* 

1 Joseph Vance to Webster. March 29, 1825. Quoted in Curtis, 
•'Webster," Vol. I, p. 241. 



IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 149 

tention of many of his colleagues to the exclusion of 
very nearly everything else. There were numerous 
candidates, principally Adams, Clay, Jackson, Cal- 
houn, and Crawford, and intrigues among their respect- 
ive groups of supporters were at their height. So 
evenly matched were the candidates that many men 
already believed, as did Webster himself, that the 
election would inevitably be thrown into the House of 
Representatives. As to a preference among the men 
in the held, Webster was for a time undecided. 
Jackson, the champion of militarism and the favorite 
of the unthinking masses, he could not abide. Craw- 
ford, the representative of radical Republicanism, 
stood at the pole totally opposite to a Federalist, even 
though of the moderate school. With Clay Webster 
had often stood on common ground. More than once 
the Keutuckian had manifested unreservedly his respect 
for Webster's station and ability, and the two were 
most of the time on very friendly terms. Toward Clay, 
however, in the present situation Webster felt no incli- 
nation, perchance, as Mr. Lodge suggests, by reason of 
a certain instinctive feeling of rivalry between them. 

The natural candidate to have received Webster's 
support, and the one who, through process of elimina- 
tion, finally did receive it, was Adams. Between 
Webster and Adams there was no small community of 
taste and of ideas. Circumstances eventually com- 
pelled the one to become the parliamentary champion 
of the administrative policies of the other. As yet, 
however, there existed between the two men but a 
limited acquaintance ; and even after acquaintance 
had ripened, there always lingered in the heart of each 
a certain distrust of the other. By reason of his sup- 
port of the Jefferson administration in its commercial 



150 DANIEL WEBSTER 

policies in 1807-1808 and his essentially independent 
attitude upon public questions thereafter, Adams had 
long been out of favor with the leaders of his former 
party. By many New England Federalists of the 
stricter school he had been, and by not a few he still 
was, regarded, indeed, as nothing short of an arch- 
traitor. "I never did like John Q. Adams," writes 
Ezekiel Webster to his brother in 1822. " He must 
have a very objectionable rival whose election I should 
not prefer. ... I should really prefer Calhoun, 
Lowndes, Crawford, Clinton, and fifty others that I 
could mention. " l Such, so far as personal inclination 
went, was the position of New England Federalists 
very generally. At the same time, by the definite turn 
of New England to Eepublicanism the political position 
of Adams in his own section had been vastly improved. 
From the Federalists he had little to expect, but New 
England was no longer Federalist, and by 1823 he 
found himself in a position to be supported by not only 
the lifelong Eepublicans but also the large mass of 
Kepublicans of Federalist antecedents. He was not 
personally popular, but as the election of 1824 drew 
on, being the only New England (and only important 
northern) candidate, he was assured of a very general 
support in Massachusetts and adjacent states. "I 
think," wrote Ezekiel Webster, with an air of resigna- 
tion, in the letter above quoted, " it would be difficult 
for any candidate to divide the vote in New England 
with him. Although he may not be very popular, yet 
it seems to be in some degree a matter of necessity to 
support him, if any man is to be taken from the land 
of the Pilgrims. ' ' 
The candidate toward whom Daniel Webster was 
1 Van Tyne, "Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 89, 



IN CONGKESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 151 

inclined, so long as there appeared any chance of his 
success, was Calhoun. April 3, 1823, a letter from 
Ezekiel, in reply to specific inquiry upon the point, 
conveyed the opinion that of all the persons who had 
been named for the presidency, the people of New 
Hampshire would prefer Adams ; but that, if he were 
removed from the field, Calhoun would undoubtedly 
be their choice. In this order of preference Ezekiel 
declared that he himself now, somewhat reluctantly, 
concurred. 1 As the winter of 1823-1824 progressed it 
became increasingly clear, however, that the contest 
in the end would lie between Adams and Jackson. 
Convinced that the election of Calhoun was unattain- 
able, Webster began advising the political leaders of 
New England to support the South Carolinian for the 
vice- presidency, and Calhoun's election to the inferior 
office in 1824 must be attributed in no small measure 
to influence from this source. To his brother he 
wrote, March 14, 1824, " I hope all New England will 
support Mr. Calhoun for the vice-presidency. If so, 
he will probably be chosen, and that will be a great 
thing. He is a true man, and will do good to the 
country in that situation." 2 

Between Adams and Jackson there seemed to Web- 
ster no possible choice except Adams, although Gen- 
eral Jackson's manners, he was obliged to confess, were 
more presidential than those of any of the candidates. 
"He is grave," he writes, " mild and reserved. My 
wife is for him decidedly." 3 Crawford's chances he 

Ezekiel to Daniel Webster, April 3, 1823. Webster, " Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 323. 

2 Daniel to Ezekiel Webster, March 14, 1824. Ibid., Vol. 1, 
p. 347. 

3 Daniel to Ezekiel Webster. February 22, 1824. Ibid., Vol. I, 
p. 346, 



152 DANIEL WEBSTER 

rightly believed to have been injured by his accept- 
ance of a Domination at the hand of a congressional 
caucus. Against the caucus as an institution, involving, 
as it did, the assumption by a clique of congressmen 
of the right to dictate the presidential nominee of a 
party or political group, there was arising a public 
protest so vigorous that never again, as it proved, 
would a presidential aspirant consent to enter upon a 
race handicayjped by a caucus nomination. What 
Webster himself thought of the caucus as a political 
device appears very clearly in his correspondence in 
1823. On November 30th he wrote to Mason : "It ap- 
pears to me to be our true policy to oppose all cau- 
cuses ; so far our course seems to me to be clear. Be- 
yond that I do not think we are bound to proceed at 
present. To defeat caucus nominations, or prevent 
them, and to give the election, wherever it can be 
done, to the people, are the best means of restoring the 
body politic to its natural and wholesome state." ' 
And to his brother Ezekiel he addressed, December 
4th, an admonition, apropos the forthcoming New 
Hampshire state elections, to the following effect : 
" One thing I hold to be material — get on without a 
caucus. It will only require a little more pains. It 
is time to put an end to caucuses. They make great 
men little, and little men great. The true source of 
power is the people. ' ' 2 

The electoral vote of 1824 was distributed as follows : 
Jackson, ninety-nine ; Adams, eighty-four ; Crawford, 
forty-one ; Clay, thirty-seven. Final choice among 
the first three candidates devolved upon the House of 
Representatives. In view of the fact that Webster had 

1 Van Tyne, "Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 93. 
"Webster, "Private Correspondence/' Vol. I, p. 331. 



IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 153 

already arrived at the opinion that the interest of the 
country demanded the election of Adams, and in view 
of the further fact that the electoral votes of New Eng- 
land were cast solidly for the Massachusetts candidate, 
it followed as a matter of course that Webster's sup- 
port in the House should be accorded to Adams. In 
the interim preceding the House election, however, 
various contingencies that might conceivably arise 
were carefully canvassed. Under date of January 18, 
1825, a series of questions was addressed to Ezekiel de- 
signed to elicit information which might prove helpful. 
"If on the first or any subsequent ballot Mr. Adams 
falls behind Mr. Crawford, and remains so a day or 
two, shall we hold out to the end of the chapter, or 
shall we vote for one of the highest f If for one of the 
highest — say Jackson and Crawford — for which? Is 
it advisable, under any circumstances, to hold out and 
leave the chair to Mr. Calhoun ? Would or would not 
New England prefer a man of the power of Calhoun, 
to a choice of General Jackson ? m From Ezekiel, and 
from other sources, came the opinion that New Eng- 
land would expect her representatives to hold out for 
Adams as long as there should be any chance of his 
election. 

The House election was set for February 9th. Six 
days in advance of that date Henry E. Warfield, a rep- 
resentative of Maryland, feeling that his vote might 
determine the vote of his state, and thereby not in- 
conceivably the result of the election, addressed to 
Webster, in a note which has been preserved, an in- 
quiry as to the policy in relation to partisan interests 
which the New England candidate, if elected, might be 
expected to put into execution. Warfield was identi- 
1 Van Tyne, " Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 111. 



154 DANIEL WEBSTER 

fied with the Maryland group of Federalists, and there 
was among this element grave apprehension lest 
Adams should " administer the government on party 
considerations," so that the old landmarks of party 
distinction should be revived and all persons who had 
hitherto been denominated i ' Federals ' 7 should be 
denied a share in public office. For his own part, 
Warfield declared he " should trust that Mr. Adams's 
administration would be conducted on liberal and in- 
dependent grounds ; and that, regardless of names, he 
would not deny to talent, integrity, and competency a 
due participation." The subject was one of no small 
degree of interest to Webster himself. Had he be- 
lieved that Adams as president would resort to a 
proscription of men of Federalist antecedents he could 
not at any point have allowed himself to be known as 
an Adams man. u For myself," he wrote in reply, 
February 5th, "I am satisfied, and shall give him 
[Adams] my vote, cheerfully and steadily. And I am 
ready to say that I should not do so if I did not believe 
that he would administer the government on liberal 
principles, not excluding Federalists, as such, from his 
regard and confidence. ... I wish to see nothing 
like a portioning, parceling out, or distributing offices 
of trust among men called by different denominations. 
Such a proceeding would be to acknowledge and to 
regard the existence of distinctions ; whereas my wish 
is that distinctions should be disregarded." l Before 
transmitting to Warfield his letter containing these 
sentiments Webster sought an interview with Adams, 
laid the letter before him, and secured from him a 
statement to the effect that with all that was said 

1 Webster to Warfield, February 5, 1825. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 378. 



IN CONGKESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 155 

therein he was in complete agreement. It was under- 
stood between the two that (assuming Adams's elec- 
tion), while a cabinet position might not be bestowed 
upon a Federalist, some important appointment should 
be made expressly to manifest the Administration's 
disposition to disregard party distinctions. 

February 9th, as had been generally expected, Adams 
was elected to the presidency by the House on the first 
ballot. With the result Webster was in no wise dis- 
pleased. "If there is any faith in man," he writes 
to Ezekiel a week later, " we shall have a liberal ad- 
ministration. I think it not unlikely that if the mat- 
ter were pressed, there might be a Federalist in the 
cabinet, but our friends are not at all satisfied that such 
a measure would be discreet at this moment. No doubt 
the true course at present is to maintain the adminis- 
tration, and give it a fair chance. We may be de- 
ceived, but if we are, it will be a gross deception." ' 
Fully appreciative of Webster's ability and prestige, 
Mr. Adams as president could not have been otherwise 
than desirous of his support. In his protestations of 
non-partisanship Adams was absolutely sincere, and 
throughout the entire administration his adherence to 
the lofty principles with which he entered office was so 
rigid as to give offense to very many of the persons 
who had been responsible for his election. From the 
outset he took care to cultivate the acquaintance of 
Webster, and between the two men there arose some- 
thing very like cordiality. During the bitter and pro- 
longed contests which ensued between the President 
and the majority of Congress it devolved upon Webster 
to serve almost continuously on the floor of the lower 

1 Daniel to Ezekiel Webster, February 16, 1825. Webster, 
'Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 381. 



156 DANIEL WEBSTER 

chamber as the Administration's spokesman and 
champion. In this capacity was delivered an impor- 
tant speech of April 14, 1826, explaining the nature of 
the forthcoiniug Panama Congress, interpreting the 
recently promulgated declarations of President Monroe, 
and defending the right of the President to appoint 
and to instruct commissioners to represent the United 
States at the proposed Congress. 1 And in a similar 
capacity, early in the next year, was delivered a stir- 
ring defense of the President in the attitude which he 
had assumed in relation to the pending issues between 
Georgia and the Creek Indiaus. 2 

All of the while, however, there lingered in the 
background a certain distrust, cherished by both men, 
but perhaps the more consciously by Webster. At the 
beginning of the administration Webster appears 
clearly to have had in mind a possible appointment as 
minister to Great Britain. If we are to accept Adams's 
impression, recorded in the " Memoirs, "' he was indeed 
" panting ' for the honor. As time passed all hope of 
this, or any other, appointment faded. In the interest 
of congressional harmony Adams intervened to dis- 
suade W T ebster, furthermore, from becoming a candidate 
for the speakership of the House — a post for which, in 
truth, he cared but little. By these and other indica- 
tions the Massachusetts member was brought to the 
opinion that his services were inadequately appreciated. 
The sacrifices of time and effort which he had made 
were heavy, and there was a limit beyond which he 
was not disposed to go. That limit was pretty well 
reached by the beginning of the second half of the ad- 

1 " Works of Webster." Vol. Ill, pp. 178-217 ; " Writings and 
Speeches." Vol. V, pp. 178-217. 

* " Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIV, pp. 107-118. 






IN CONGBESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 167 

ministration, and it was not made inore remote by the 
circumstance that when, early in 1827, it was proposed 
at Boston to elevate Webster to the Senate Adams ex- 
pressed a decided preference that the choice should fall 
upon Governor Lincoln. This attitude was assumed, 
not in disparagement of Webster, it is trne, but rather 
on the ground that he was more needed in the House 
than in the Senate ; yet the episode added to the cool- 
ness between the two men which was already becoming 
very perceptible. 

But for his hostility toward Jackson, it is probable 
that the attitude of Webster during the campaign of 
1828 would have been one of thoroughgoing indiffer- 
ence. In a very real sense that campaign began with 
the inauguration of Adams as president in 1825. It 
reached its culminating stages of intensity in 1827 and 
1828. The choice of the country lay clearly between 
Adams and Jackson, with the consequence that the 
political alignment of the period became one of Adams 
men vs. Jackson men. The personal element was still 
preponderant, but there was a growing demarcation 
of principles, and in truth the period was one in which 
political parties, for some time virtually non-existent, 
were destined to spring up again, with sharply denned 
programs and thoroughgoing organization. The Jack- 
son men were becoming the democrats of later days ; 
the Adams men, the National Eepublicans and Whigs. 
Webster was perforce drawn into the National Repub- 
lican party, and by the logic of events he, with Clay, 
was brought step by step to a position of leadership 
within it. As yet, however, in 1827 and 1828, party 
lines were not very clearly drawn and the coolness of 
Webster toward Adams disinclined him to an active 
participation in the contest for the latter 's reelection. 



158 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Jackson he disliked as heartily as ever, and it was 
only this consideration that influenced him to speak 
and write for Adams. Unlike Clay, he did not believe 
that Adams could be reelected, and in this judgment 
be proved correct. From a " cold sense of duty,' 7 as 
Ezekiel subsequently declared, " and not from any 
liking of the mau," New England chose a full quota of 
Adams electors. None the less, when it became known 
that Jackson was the victor the Websters accepted the 
result with equanimity. 

Throughout the years covered by his second period 
of service in the House Webster was most of the time 
pressed hard with professional duties. His practice 
in the Supreme Court was very large. During a single 
session, in the winter of 1826-1827, he argued fifteen 
regularly reported cases, in addition to arguments 
made on motions ; and he not infrequently appeared 
before inferior tribunals throughout the eastern states. 
During several years, furthermore, he served as lead- 
ing counsel for the prosecution of claims under the 
Florida treaty of 1819 for indemnification on account 
of spoliations committed by Spanish cruisers upon 
American commerce in 1788-1789. The commissioners 
appointed to adjudicate these claims held numerous 
sessions at Washington between 1821 and 1826. The 
subject was one of unusual difficulty and in the prose- 
cution of the many claims which were committed to 
his care Webster was obliged to undertake extended 
research and to expend an amount of labor often quite 
disproportioned to the seriousness of the question in- 
volved. His fees for this work alone, however, aggre- 
gated seventy thousand dollars. 

The period was further marked by a number of 
splendid exhibitions of " occasional ' oratory, of 



IN CONGRESS AGAIN, 1823-1827 159 

which two — the Bunker Hill address of June 17, 1825, 
and the eulogy on Adams and Jefferson of August 2, 
1826 — stand out with special prominence. There had 
been for some years in Boston a Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment Association, whose object was to bring about the 
erection of a shaft commemorative of the battle of June 
17, 1775, and, in general, to keep alive a public sense 
of gratitude toward the patriots and leaders of the 
Revolution. As the fiftieth anniversary of the battle 
drew near it was planned to celebrate the day in a pe- 
culiarly worthy manner by laying the corner-stone of 
the proposed monument. Webster, who at the time 
was president of the Association, was chosen unani- 
mously by his fellow-trustees to deliver the principal 
address. The interest of the occasion was increased 
by the presence of General Lafayette. The day was 
one of the most memorable in the history of Boston. 
The weather was perfect and the outpouring of people 
tremendous. A procession from the State House to 
the Hill ; an oration such as only a Webster could de- 
liver ; an outdoor diuner on the neighboring hill, with 
toasts by Webster, Lafayette, and others ; and in the 
evening a grand reception at the Webster house in 
Summer Street — such were the proceedings of a day 
long remembered by those who had part in them. It 
was always the opinion of Webster that the oration at 
Plymouth surpassed that delivered at Bunker Hill. 
In the breadth of its sweep, and in the quality of 
majesty, it undeniably did so. In sheer eloquence, 
however, it may be doubted whether anything that 
Webster ever uttered surpassed his address upon the 
later occasion to the survivors of the battle, his apos- 
trophe to General Warren, and his encomium of La- 
fayette. Like many of Webster's greatest speeches, 



160 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the Bunker Hill discourse was thought out in all of 
its larger aspects far from books and manuscripts — 
in this instance during the course of a day's fishing in 
the Marshpee Itiver. Its details, however, were the 
ground of much solicitude, and even after its delivery 
the author consumed no small amount of time in the 
revision of his manuscript preparatory to printing. 1 
The address, placed at the disposal of the Monument 
Association, was given a wide circulation, being trans- 
lated, indeed, almost immediately into French and 
other languages, "to the very great profit," so Lafay- 
ette wrote, "of European readers." 

On July 4, 1826, there occurred within the space of 
a few hours the death of John Adams at Quincy and 
of Thomas Jefferson at Mouticello. Throughout the 
country there were held commemorative meetings, and 
in Boston the municipal authorities requested Webster 
to pronounce, in Faneuil Hall, a public discourse upon 
the careers and services of the two men. In the pres- 
ence of the dignitaries of state and city, and of a con- 
course of citizens who struggled, in large part vainly, 
to gain admission to the hall, the eulogy was delivered, 
August 2d. "Mr. Webster spoke," records an auditor 
(Mr. Tick nor), "in an orator's gown and wore small- 
clothes. He was in the perfection of his manly beauty 
and strength ; his form filled out to its finest propor- 
tions, and his bearing, as he stood before the vast 
multitude, that of absolute dignity and power. His 
manuscript lay on a small table near him, but I think 
he did not once refer to it. His manner of speaking 
was deliberate and commanding. When he came to 
the passage on eloquence, and to the words, 'It is 

1 For the speech see "Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 79-108 ; 
"Writings and Speeches,'' Vol. I, pp. 233-254. 



IN CONGRESS AUA1X, 1823-1827 161 

action, noble, sublime, godlike action,' he stamped his 
foot repeatedly on the stage, his form seemed to dilate, 
and he stood, as that whole audience saw and felt, the 
personification of what he so perfectly described. 1 
never heard him when his manner was so grand and 
appropriate." ! When the oration was concluded the 
pent-up feeling of the audience burst forth in three 
mighty cheers, inappropriate enough to the occasion, 
yet by no means without excuse. The portion of the 
address which attracted most attention subsequently 
was that in which there w r as put in the mouth of John 
Adams a supposititious speech in behalf of American 
independence and in that of an unnamed opponent a 
similar argument in opposition to so boldly -conceived 
a policy. Witli such consummate skill and realism 
was the thing done that even as late as 1851 men were 
still inquiring whether the utterances ascribed to the 
orators of 1776 might not be real, despite long-con- 
tinued effort of Webster and his friends to make clear 
i he actual character of the speeches in question. "I 
will tell you," confessed Webster to President Fillmore 
upon one occasion near the end of his life, " what is 
not generally known. I wrote that speech [the one 
ascribed to Adams] one morning before breakfast, in 
my library, and when it was finished my paper was 
wet with my tears.' 1 " Your- attempt," wrote Richard 
Rush, "to pass the doors of that most august sanctu- 
ary, the Congress of '76, and become a listener and 
reporter of its immortal debates, was extremely bold, 
extremely hazardous. Nothing but success could have 
justified it; and you have succeeded." 5 

'Quoted in Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, p. 275. 

''Rush to Webster, August 30, 1826. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 280. For 
thft text of the speech see "Works of Webster," Vol I, pp. 109- 
150; "Writings and Speeohes," Vol. I, pp. 289-324. 



162 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Life in these years was too much crowded with work 
to permit of much diversion. In December, 1821, 
however, Webster was one of a small party that paid 
a visit to Jefferson and Madison at their Virginia 
homes. At Monti cello the travelers were detained up- 
ward of a week by bad weather, so that opportunity 
for conversation with "the sage" was extended; and 
subsequently Webster took occasion to commit to 
writing a memorandum of this conversation which is 
of no inconsiderable interest. 1 Webster and Madison 
were, of course, old acquaintances, and it is interesting 
to observe that after his return to Washington Webster 
confided to Mr. Tick nor that Madison's conversation 
upon the occasion of the recent visit had confirmed 
him in an opinion he had for some time entertained, 
"that Mr. Madison was the wisest of our Presidents, 
except Washington. " In June and July, 1825, Webster 
was a member of a party that journeyed by stage- 
coach and Erie Canal passenger-boat by way of Albany 
to Niagara Falls. Besides Webster himself, the party 
consisted of Mrs. Webster, Judge and Mrs. Story, and 
Miss Buckminster (afterward Mrs. Lee). At Albany 
Webster and Story met Lafayette at a public dinner. 
Numerous letters written from Niagara Falls abound in 
splendid accounts of the scenery of the region, evincing 
not merely the descriptive art that one might expect 
in so consummate a master of English but also a fresh 
and boundless love of Nature and an appreciation of 
her humblest as well as of her grandest works. 

'Printed in Webster, "Private Correspondence," Vol. I, pp. 
364-373. 



CHAPTEE VII 

IN THE SENATE: THE TARIFF 

In the year 1827 it devolved upon the legislature of 
Massachusetts to elect a successor to Elijah H. Mills iu 
the United States Senate. By reason of his precarious 
health, grave doubt arose as to whether Mr. Mills 
could be, or should be, induced to accept a secood 
term. Months in advance of the election members of 
the legislature began to cauvass the field iu search 
of another candidate, and early in the course of this 
search the name of Webster was very naturally sug- 
gested. To a member who had addressed him upon 
the subject Webster, under date of January 10, 1827, 
advocated very strongly the immediate reelection of 
Mills, or, in lieu of that, a postponement of the choice 
until the ensuing June, in the hope that the senator's 
health would at that time more clearly warrant his 
reelection. "For mercy's sake," he urged, "do not 
weaken our power in the Senate ! When all the Phi- 
listines are against us, do let us have all the strength 
we can have. If Mr. Mills lives, he is second to no 
man in the Senate among our friends. Why, then, 
should he be now superseded 1 . . . I can only 
say that if you are governed by a disposition to sustain 
Mr. Adams, and help on the public business, you will, 
in all events, elect a man of the very best talents which 
are at your disposal. I pray you let no local, nor 
temporary, nor any small consideration induce you to 
refrain from electing the fittest man that can be found, 



164 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

and that can possibly be prevailed on to take the 
place. The present moment, be assured, is a crisis in 
the affairs of Massachusetts and all the North. 7 ' l 

During its winter session the legislature arrived at 
no conclusion in the matter of the senatorship. The 
Senate went so far as to make choice of Levi Lincoln, 
then governor of the commonwealth ; but Mr. Lincoln, 
in a communication addressed to the Speaker of the 
House of Eepresentatives, declined to permit his name 
to be used further, and there the matter rested. During 
the months which intervened prior to the reassembling 
of the legislature in June, Webster was urged by mem- 
bers and by friends at Washington to allow himself to 
be considered a candidate ; and, over the protest of 
many persons of influence, who, in some instances for 
partisan and in others for broadly patriotic reasons, 
believed that he was of larger service in the lower 
house than he could well be in the upper one, he was 
brought gradually to a decision to accept the senator- 
ship if it should be urged upon him. In May he wrote 
to Lincoln urging that he consent to be chosen to 
Mr. Mills's seat. " There are," he declared, "many 
strong personal reasons, and, as friends think (and as 
I think, too), some public reasons, why I should de- 
cline the offer of a seat in the Senate, if it should be 
made to me. " * The consideration of a public character 
to which allusion was made was that, in the critical 
situation of the time, the Administration ought to be 
strengthened in both houses, and that this end might 
be best attained by the accession of a senator of the 

1 Webster to Joseph E. Rprague, January 10, 1827. Webster, 
" Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 414. 

3 Webster to Levi Lincoln, May 22, 1827. Quoted in Curtis, 
"Webster," Vol. I, p. 293. 



• 



IN THE SENATE : THE TAEIFF 165 

calibre of Governor Lincoln, rather than by the mere 
translation of Webster himself from the one house 
to the other. Governor Lincoln, however, remained 
steadfast in his refusal and insisted that for the public 
good Webster should consent to his own promotion. 
The upshot was that when the legislature reassembled, 
in June, the House, by a vote of 202 out of 328, and 
the Senate, by a vote of 26 out of 39, conferred 
upon Webster the senatorship for the term beginning 
March 4th previous. We have it on the authority of 
Clay that, much as Adams valued Webster's influence 
in the House, the President's wish had come to be 
that, in the event of Governor Lincoln's final refusal, 
the choice should fall upon Webster. Administration 
members of the lower branch, however, lamented 
keenly the loss of leadership arising from the transfer. 
The election to the Senate in 1827 has been correctly 
appraised by Mr. Curtis as a turning-point in Web- 
ster's life. For, while there is no reason to suppose 
that his service in the House of Representatives might 
not have been prolonged and increasingly honorable, 
it none the less is true that, ''whatever may have 
hitherto been his inclination or his power to withdraw 
from all public station, his entrance into the Senate 
must be considered as having fixed for the remainder 
of his days, and fortunately or unfortunately for his 
personal happiness and welfare, his position as a 
statesman who belonged to the country, and for whom, 
henceforth, private life was to be a matter of intervals 
and episodes." 1 In the oft-expressed reluctance of 
Webster to surrender himself to the exigencies of a 
public career it is not difficult to detect a note of sin- 
cerity. The demands of public service interfered con- 
Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, p. 290. 



\* 






166 DANIEL WEBSTER 

stantly with the practice of a chosen profession. They 
not merely precluded that singleness of devotion which 
would have brought well-nigh unrivaled preeminence ; 
they involved steady sacrifice of pecuniary advance- 
ment. Despite his unusual mouey-making talent, 
Webster died a poor man, aud not alone because he 
habitually lacked thrift when financial affairs were 
involved, but largely by reason of his long-continued 
absorption in public service. The demands of a pub- 
lic career, too, not infrequently ran counter to the 
domestic tastes and interests which were at all times 
in Webster highly developed. Despite all of these 
considerations, however, it cannot be maintained that 
Webster was in his public life unhappy. Impelled by 
that same frankly owned ambition which had consti- 
tuted the mainspring of his life from early boyhood, he 
inwardly exulted in every broadening of his field of 
opportunity. He loved power, eminence, and adula- 
tion, and his desire for public station grew as the 
years passed by, until in the end, as will appear, 
nothing short of the presidency itself could be made 
to satisfy him. 

In the midst of wide- spread felicitation upon his 
election to the Senate, Webster was plunged into the 
depths of domestic distress. During the summer of 
1827, Mrs. Webster, who for some time had been 
afflicted with a tumor, declined perceptibly in health ; 
and although a few weeks spent at Sandwich seemed 
to give her fresh vigor, when, in December, in company 
with her husband, she set out from Boston for Wash- 
ington her state was such as to occasion grave concern. 
The journey to New York proved taxing, and two 
physicians of that city, on being called into consulta- 
tion, could offer no ground for expectation of an ulti- 



IN THE SENATE : THE TAEIFF 167 

mate recovery. "I hope," wrote the grief-stricken 
husband to his brother-in-law, Mr. Paige, "I may be 
able to meet the greatest of all earthly afflictions with 
firmness, but I need not say that I am at present quite 
overcome. " l Two weeks of treatment yielded no very 
encouraging result, although the patient's condition 
seemed to grow no worse. Sick at heart, and himself 
all but disabled by an attack of rheumatism, Webster 
pressed on to Washington, in the hope that Mrs. 
Webster might subsequently be able to follow in the 
company of Judge and Mrs. Story. The hope was 
vain, and on the 4th of January, Webster returned 
to New York. A succession of letters written during 
the ensuiug two weeks to relatives and close friends 
record with pathetic incisiveness the alternations of 
hope and despair, the effort to temper the painful facts 
of the situation and the struggle to accept them with 
resignation, which filled the life of the anxious husband 
during these days. January 21st the end came. 
When the funeral party returned to Boston, Webster 
and his children stayed, both before and after the 
burial, at the home of a close friend, Mr. George 
Blake, in Summer Street. Mrs. Webster's remains 
were placed with those of her children, Grace and 
Charles, in a tomb beneath St. Paul's Church. At the 
hour of the funeral, says Mr. Ticknor in his " Reminis- 
cences," Webster "took Julia and Daniel in either 
hand and walked close to the hearse through the streets 
to the church in whose crypt the interment took place. 
It was a touching and solemn sight. He was excess- 
ively pale." The day was wet and an attempt was 
made to persuade the husband to ride in one of the 

1 Webster to Paige, December 5, 1827. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. I, p. 424, 



168 DANIEL WEBSTER 

carriages. "No," was his reply, "my children and I 
must follow their mother to the grave on foot." 
Among the numerous friends of the family in and 
around Boston homes were found for the three childreu, 
Julia, Daniel Fletcher, aud Edward; 1 and, haviug 
closed his house, Webster was able within three weeks 
to return to Washiugton to resume his duties in the 
Senate. The remainder of the winter brought little of 
interest. Even when conditions were in every re- 
spect favorable it was not infrequently with difficulty 
that Webster overcame a certain innate disposition to 
lethargy, and it is not remarkable that under the im- 
pact of the blow that had befallen him he continued 
for some time as one whose every impetus had dis- 
appeared. "I feel/' he writes, "a vacuum, an in- 
difference, a want of motive, which I cannot well 
describe. I hope my children, and the society of my 
best friends, may rouse me ; but I can never see such 
days as I have seen." 2 

The comparative inactivity of Webster during his 
earlier months in the Senate is to be accounted for not 
solely upon the ground of personal bereavement. Pro- 
fessional duties, postponed in some instances by reason 
of Mrs. Webster's illness and death, absorbed a con- 
siderable amount of time. As a newcomer, further- 
more, in the upper chamber he was disposed to pro- 
ceed cautiously, although, it is true, he was moved to 
speak at some length upon a pending question as early 
as the second day after assuming his seat. Finally, 
there was the conviction that the elements of opposi- 
tion were too formidable to be overcome by any 

1 A son, Charles, born in 1822, died December 18, 1824. 
'Webster to Mrs. E. B. Lee, May 18, 1828. Webster, " Private 
Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 458. 



IN THE SENATE : THE TAEIFF 169 

amount of parliamentary activity. By the close of 
1827 the anti-administration forces, i. e., the large and 
varied elemeuts inclined to the support of Jackson, 
were in effectual control in both branches of Congress, 
and between the President and the opposition majority 
there was incessant conflict and at times prolonged 
deadlock. ' l According to present appearances, ' ' Web- 
ster writes, December 17, 1827, " there will be little 
for me to do. Our adversaries undoubtedly have a 
majority, and I think the true course is to let them 
exercise it as seems to them good. Why should we be 
responsible for what we cannot control ! " ' 

Upon an occasional legislative issue, none the less, 
Webster was roused to the point of participation in 
debate, notably upon a bill for the relief of surviving 
officers of the Eevolution, which, largely through his 
effort, was enacted into law. 2 But the one subject 
upon which he was stirred to his best effort at this 

Millie was the tariff. It was in the course of the debate 
trpon the tariff act of 1828 that he abandoned his earlier 
attitude of opposition to protectionism and for the first 
time gave his support unreservedly to a measure 
founded upon that principle. In the history of the 

"~mnn7lIo^less~than"Tn" r 0ie' shaping of Webster's public 
career, the event was one of unusual importance ; so 
that it becomes necessary at this point, first, to review 
the earlier course of Webster in relation to tariff legis- 
lation and, secondly, to examine in some detail the 
circumstances of the volte-face of 1828. 
It is hardly too much to say that Alexander Hamil- 

1 Webster to Mills, December 19, 1827. Webster, 4 ' Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. I, p. 428. 

'See speech of April 25, 1828. "Writings and Speeches," Vol. 
V, pp. 218-227. 



y 



170 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ton was the founder of Federalism ; and one of the 
arguments upon which Hamilton, in his remarkable 
Keport on Manufactures, submitted to Congress Janu- 
ary 5, 1791, laid greatest stress was that for the due 
development of the industries of a new country such as 
the United States the imposition of protective tariff 
rates is a practical necessity. In New England, how- 
ever, which early became the principal stronghold of 
Federalism, the protective idea was from the outset 
unpopular. It was not that a tariff for protection 
was considered unconstitutional. The liberal views 
entertained by all Federalists respecting the powers of 
the general government left small room for a denial of 
the power to impose protective duties. The objection 
with which Hamilton's proposed policy was met arose 
rather from a doubt as to the expediency of protection 
upon general principles and, more particularly, from 
the free- trade proclivities of a predominantly commer- 
cial people, running sharply counter as they did to a 
policy whose adoption would have for its avowed ob- 
ject the liberating of the nation from a dependence 
upon the importation of foreign goods. Prior to the 
War of 1812 the question of protection entered but 
slightly, if at all, into the deliberations of Congress. 
There are students of the subject who maintain that 
into the earliest of all of our tariff acts under the Con- 
stitution, that of 1789, the element of protection was 
deliberately injected. The view probably arises, how- 
ever, from a disposition on the part of protectionists 
of a later day to read back into this original act an 
element which they are at least pleased to believe was 
in it. Certainly, as a general proposition, it can be 
maintained that of all the varied features of the 
Hamilton scheme of public finance the one alone which 






IN THE SENATE : THE TAEIFF 171 



was deliberately rejected was that pertaining to the 
imposition of a protective tariff. Until the War of 
1812 the tariff continued a means simply of raising 
revenue ; and when, upon the outbreak of the war, 
Congress voted to double all existing duty rates, the 
sole consideration was still the procuring of funds. It 
was only at the close of the war, when by the reopen- 
ing of commercial relations with Great Britain the 
newly risen manufacturing industries of the United 
States seemed on the point of untimely extinction, 
that there arose that wide-spread and persistent demand 
^for the adoption of a policy of protection which cul- 
minated in the important legislation of 1816. 

As has been pointed out, Webster's earlier views 
respecting the tariff were in all respects those of com- 
mercial New England. In 1814, in rejoinder to an 
argument by Calhoun in favor of the continuance of 
the existing double duties as a protective measure, 
1 Webster, then but lately become a member of the 
1 House, was imj)elled to express himself with force upon 
What he and his constituents regarded as the artificial 
stimulation of manufactures. " In respect to manu- 
factures," he said, " it is necessary to speak with some 
precision. I am not, generally speaking, their 
enemy ; I am their friend ; but I am not for rearing 
them or any other interest in hot- beds. I would not 
legislate precipitately, even in favor of them ; above 
all, I would not profess intentions in relation to them 
which I did not purpose to execute. I feel no desire 
to push capital into extensive manufactures faster than 
the general progress of our wealth and population 
propels it. I am not in haste to see Sheffields and 
Birminghams in America. Until the population of 
the country shall be greater in proportion to its extent, 



172 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

such establishments would be impracticable if at- 
tempted, aud if practicable they would be unwise." 
At considerable length he went on to argue two funda- 
mental propositions— first, that agriculture, possessed 
of numerous advantages over manufacturing, should 
remain forever in America the normal occupation for 
the great mass of citizens, and, second, that the govern- 
ment ought not to seek to control or to alter the 
natural industrial proclivities of the people. " It is," 
he declared, " the true policy of government to suffer 
the different pursuits of society to take their own 
course, and not to give excessive bounties or encour- 
agements to one over another. This, also, is the true 
spirit of the Constitution. It has not, in my opinion, 
conferred on the government the power of changing 
the occupations of the people of different states and 
sections, and of forcing them into other em pi ovuie^s." 
The attitude maintained by Webster at this point was, 
it is clear, not one of hostility to the development of 
manufactures under the gradual operation of enduring 
economic causes. It was, rather, as it has been char- 
acterized, an attitude of laissez faire, arising from the 
fundamental consideration that while it is the duty of 
the government to protect all legitimate occupations, 
it is neither constitutional nor expedient for it to ex- 
tend its beneficence to one occupation more than to an- 
other. 

At the time of the enactment of the tariff law of 
1816 Webster contented himself with a series of attacks 
upon individual items and was successful in procuring 
some reductions of the original schedules. He voted 
against the measure, although he was compelled to 
recognize that in doing so he was opposing the wish 
of a very large majority of the people of the country. 



IN THE SENATE : THE TARIFF 173 

From 1817 to 1823 he was out of Congress, and during 
that period there arose but one occasion upon which 
opportunity was afforded for a notable pronouncement 
upon the tariff question. That came in 1820. Under 
the stimulus of the act of 1816 cotton, woolen, and 
other kinds of manufactures exhibited a remarkable 
growth ; although there was complaint almost from the 
beginning that the rates which finally had been deter- 
mined upon were inadequate. In 1818 it was voted 
by Congress not to allow to go into operation the 
reduction which the act of 1816 had set for 1819, and 
a period of business depression in 1818-1819 gave 
occasion for an insistent demand from manufacturing 
interests for a new tariff schedule, with increased rates. 
In the spring of 1820 Henry Baldwin, representing 
the district in which Pittsburgh was located, brought 
forward in the House a bill of a more thoroughgoing 
protectionist character than any which as yet had been 
seriously advocated. Under its terms ad valorem duties 
were increased by proportions varying from twenty- 
five to sixty-six per cent. Employing principally his 
favorite argument in behalf of the extension of home 
markets for raw materials and foodstuffs, Clay de- 
feuded this measure in one of the most remarkable of 
his numerous tariff speeches. In the House the bill 
was passed by a vote of ninety -one to seventy-eight. 

The vote of New England was almost exactly evenly 
divided — eighteen in favor and seventeen opposed. 
The representatives of Rhode Island voted solidly for 
the bill. With a single exception, those of Connec- 
ticut did the same. Rhode Island and Connecticut 
were fast becoming manufacturing states, and accord- 
ingly they were inclining ever more strongly to the 
protectionist point of view. Of the members from 



174 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Massachusetts proper only three voted against the bill, 
and they represented the commercial districts about 
Boston and Salem. That portion of Massachusetts 
subsequently set off as the state of Maine registered 
four votes in opposition. New Hampshire and Ver- 
mont, save for a single vote from the latter state, were 
solidly opposed. The significant thing regarding the 
New England vote was the extent to which the recently 
developed interest in manufactures was beginning to 
tell in tariff legislation. For the first time the section 
declared as a whole, even though by the narrowest 
possible majority, for protection. By a single vote, on 
a motion to postpone, the Baldwin Bill was lost in the 
Senate. The friends of the measure at once, however, 
set about preparation to reopen the issue at the next 
session, and the country understood that the question 
was but deferred. 

During the summer of 1820 public meetings were 
held in various places, some to promote and some to 
organize opposition to the proposed legislation. At a 
gathering of the second type held in Faneuil Hall in 
Boston on October 2d, Webster was invited to be pres- 
ent and to speak. The meeting was called by men 
whose interests lay in agriculture and commerce, and 
the resolutions adopted at the close of the proceedings 
comprised a forceful declaration of free-trade doctrine. 
In an able speech in support of these resolutions Web- 
ster took occasion to present at length his views 
respecting the unconstitutionality of such a protective 
measure as that which had recently passed the House. 
As a rule the advocates of protectionism had main- 
tained hitherto that the power to lay a protective 
tariff was incidental to the power to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises. In his Faneuil 



IN THE SENATE : THE TAEIFF 175 

Hall speech Webster argued that if protection is an 
incident to revenue, the incident cannot fairly be 
carried beyond the principal, and that duties laid 
solely or primarily for the purpose of affording pro- 
tection to domestic manufactures fall outside the scope 
of the power under which it was claimed they might 
be imposed. In some quarters there was an attempt 
to defend the constitutionality of protection upon gen- 
eral grounds, or upon specific grounds independent of 
the taxing power. It was the contention of Clay, for 
example, that the power to lay a protective tariff is to 
be derived from the power which is given Cougress 
to regulate foreign commerce. Against all such argu- 
ments, however, Webster entered protest. There was, 
he maintained, no " substantial and direct" power in 
virtue of which a protective tariff could be laid. "It 
would hardly be contended," he declared, "that Con- 
gress possessed that sort of general power by which it 
might declare that particular occupations should be 
pursued in society and that others should not. If such 
power belonged to any government in this country, it 
certainly did not belong to the general government." l 
As to the inexpediency of protection Webster's opin- 
ions had undergone no change. Manufactures he be- 
lieved to be in themselves only moderately desirable. 
For Clay's idea that American manufactures ought to 
be developed in the interest of national independence 
he had nothing but ridicule. The effects of the rapid 
growth of manufactures, it seemed to him, were likely 
to be but the unwholesome concentration of capital, 
the making of the rich richer and the poor poorer, 
and the iucrease of social injustice and misery. Even 
if such a development were desirable, and if there 
1 "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIII, pp. 5-22. 






176 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

existed an indubitable power in the hands of the 
federal government to promote it by a policy of protec- 
tion, a measure such as that for which manufacturing 
interests were clamoring would be unjust. Its adop- 
tion would be unfair to the numerous manufacturers 
who were not extended its supposed advantages, and 
in its operation it would constitute an agency of gross 
and indefensible favoritism. Its effect would be to 
increase both the cost of living and the burden of tax- 
ation. "In truth," it was contended, "every man in 
the community not immediately benefited by the new 
duties would suffer a double loss. In the first place, 
by shutting out the foreign commodity, the price of 
the domestic manufacture would be raised. The con- 
sumer, therefore, must pay more for it, and insomuch 
as the government will have lost the duty on the im- 
ported article, a tax equal to that duty must be paid 
to the government." For cogency of argument upon 
low tariff lines the Faneuil Hall speech has rarely been 
surpassed. 

During the years covered by the second Monroe ad- 
ministration there continued strong demand for ad- 
vanced tariff legislation, and the demand was accen- 
tuated from time to time by a recurrence of depression 
in various fields of business. Throughout the period 
Clay and his school kept up the contention that only 
by the creation of an enormous home market for raw 
materials — iron, hemp, wool, and other articles — and 
for foodstuffs could a substantial basis for national 
prosperity be laid, and that the development of such a 
domestic market involved of necessity the deliberate 
stimulation of manufactures through the means of high 
protective duties. Adequate protection against foreign 
competition, it was urged, was the sole method by 



IN THE SENATE: THE TAEIFF 177 

which European nations had been able to maintain 
themselves, and it was only the part of prudence for the 
United States to conform to the universal experience 
of modern states. Although during the years 1820- 
1823 Monroe's messages advocated repeatedly a moder- 
ate increase of prevailing duties and several attempts 
were made to rouse Congress to the point of action, it 
was not until the beginning of the session of 1823-1824 
—the session in which Webster reappeared as a mem- 
ber of the House — that the protectionist forces, under 
the aggressive leadership of Clay, commanded a ma- 
jority adequate for action. Early in the session there 
was introduced a bill providing for an increase of the 
duties on cottons, woolens, iron, and hemp, and con- 
templating a general overhauling of the existing tariff 
laws, with a view to sweeping extensions of the pro- 
tective system. In committee of the whole the meas- 
ure was debated from time to time at great length and 
by the ablest members of the House. The principal 
champion of the bill was Clay, who in successive 
speeches elaborated with rare eloquence the funda- 
mental aspects of his well-known "American system." 
A masterful appeal by Clay, delivered March 30 and 
31, 1824, was followed, April lstand2d, by the lengthiest 
and ablest speech which Webster had yet delivered 
upon this subject. 1 

After alluding to the pending bill as a "collection 
of different enactments, some of which meet my appro- 
bation and some of which do not, " the Massachusetts 
member discussed with some fulness the state of dis- 

l It has well been said that " these two speeches together are as 
interesting an economic study as can be found in our parliamentary 
history." Schurz, " Henry Clav," Vol. I, p. 218. For Webster's 
speeoh see "Works of Webster,'' Vol. Ill, pp. 94-149; "Writings 
and Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 94-149, 



178 DANIEL WEBSTER 

tress which Clay had represented as prevailing through- 
out the country. From the accuracy of Clay's picture 
he dissented strongly, maintaining that, despite oc- 
casional depression, "a country enjoying a profound 
peace, perfect civil liberty, with the reward of labor 
sure, and its wages higher than anywhere else, cannot 
be represented as in gloom, melancholy, and distress, 
but by the effort of extraordinary powers of tragedy." 1 
The true causes of such business unsettlement as ad- 
mittedly existed in some sections Webster bade his 
hearers seek in a loose and ill -ordered system of cur- 
rency and public finance. The issue of irredeemable 
paper money he regarded as the "inost prominent and 
deplorable cause of whatever pressure still exists in 
this country." To the adoption of a more rigidly pro- 
tectionist policy such as Clay had advocated he inter- 
posed a number of objections, each of which was sus- 
tained by a wealth of argument. In the first place, 
Clay's denomination of his scheme as an American sys- 
tem was ridiculed, on the ground that, historically, 
that was precisely what it was not. If names were to 
mean anything, he said, a policy which even its advo- 
cates admitted was new to America ought hardly to be 
called American ; nor ought that policy which America 
had hitherto maintained, and which foreign nations 
had never pursued, to be spoken of as foreign. In the 
second place, it was unfair to impose upon a branch of 
industry, i. e., commerce, which had contributed so 
largely to the prosperity of the country the handicap 
which must inevitably arise from protectionist policy 
— the more so when it was considered how depressed 
already were navigation and foreign trade in conse- 

1,4 Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, p. 97 ; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. V, p. 97. 



IN THE SENATE : THE TARIFF 179 

quence of the new conditions which had arisen since 
the restoration of peace in Europe. Thirdly, it was 
contended that the state of manufactures was not at all 
such as to demand the amount of governmental support 
which it was proposed to accord. The cotton, woolen, 
and iron industries had passed beyond their infancy, 
and whatever claim to special favor they once had pos- 
sessed must be adj udged to have disappeared. Finally, 
it was argued that the pending bill was a hodge-podge 
of proposals, some less objectionable than others, but, 
taken together, far from calculated to accomplish even 
the purposes avowed by its friends. 

" Gentlemen tell us," declared Webster, "that they 
are in favor of domestic industry ; so am I. They 
would give it protection ; so would I. But then all 
domestic industry is not confined to manufactures. 
The employments of agriculture, commerce, and navi- 
gation are all branches of the same domestic industry ; 
they all furnish employment for American capital and 
American labor. And when the question is whether 
new duties shall be laid for the purpose of giving fur- 
ther encouragement to particular manufactures, every 
reasonable man must ask himself, both whether the pro- 
posed new encouragement be necessary, and whether it 
can be given without injustice to other branches of indus- 
try." In two or three passages of the speech, in par- 
ticular, Webster stated incisively both his own view 
and that of the interests which he as yet represented. 
" With me it is a fundamental axiom, it is interwoven 
with all my opinions, that the great interests of the 
country are united and inseparable ; that agriculture, 
commerce, and manufactures will prosper together or 
languish together ; and that all legislation is danger- 
ous which proposes to benefit one of these without 



180 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

looking to the consequences which may fall on the 
others. . . . Protection, when carried to the 
point which is now recommended, that is, to entire 
prohibition, seems to me destructive of all commercial 
intercourse between nations. We are urged to adopt 
the system on general principles. ... I do not 
admit the general principle 5 on the contrary, I think 
freedom of trade the general principle, and restriction 
the exception.' 7 1 In rejoinder to the appeals of Clay 
and other speakers to the policies and experience of 
England, Webster contended that as the true nature of 
international trade should come to be better understood 
the entire system of monopolies and restraints which 
had grown up in England and other European coun- 
tries would grow in disfavor, and that, indeed, there 
were already abundant and increasing signs of revolt 
against it. With current economic and political 
opinion in Great Britain Webster displayed here, as 
upon numerous other occasions, a degree of familiarity 
which was remarkable. 

After a debate of nearly ten weeks the bill passed 
the House of Eepresentatives, April 16th, by the 
narrow margin of 107 to 102 votes. Webster and 
twenty-two of his New England colleagues voted 
against the measure. Fifteen New England members 
— but one of them from Massachusetts — voted for it. 
In the Senate the various items of the bill were dis- 
cussed at length, and in the end some amendments 
were introduced by which certain of Webster's objec- 
tions to details were removed. The final vote was 
favorable, although only by a balance of 25 to 22, and 
eventually the measure became law. 

1 "Works of Daniel Webster," Vol. Ill, p. 96 ; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. V, p. 96. 



IN THE SENATE : THE TAEIFF 181 

The act of 1824 was a compromise evolved from a 
melange of conflicting and insistent sectional demands. 
At the time of its adoption it pleased nobody in all of 
its specifications, and in practice it failed completely to 
meet with the approval of many important interests. 
Chief among the malcontents were the woolen manu- 
facturers, whose numbers and interests in the New 
England states were rapidly increased during the 
years immediately following 1824. They were espe- 
cially aggrieved because the advantage of an increased 
duty on woolen cloth had been offset by a doubling 
of the rate on raw wool in the interest of the wool- 
growers of rural New England and the Middle West. 
Early in 1827 a bill was introduced in the House by 
Eollin 0. Mallary, of Vermont, substituting specific 
for ad valorem duties and applying to woolens the 
minimum principle already applied to cottons by the 
act of 1816. The measure passed the House, February 
10th, but in the Senate, by the casting-vote of Vice- 
President Calhoun, it was laid on the table. During 
the summer of 1827 the question was agitated through- 
out the country, and at the first session of the Twenti- 
eth Congress, beginning in December of that year, the 
House Committee on Manufactures brought in a bill 
extending protection to wool, hemp, flax, iron, and 
other raw materials, even where the producers had not 
asked for it, and fixing a schedule of minimums for 
woolens so devised that the woolen goods chiefly manu- 
factured in New England should be left without benefit. 
The bill was drawn by a committee in which Southern 
men preponderated, and we are given to understand 
by Calhoun that it was framed on the lines which have 
been indicated to the end that New England should be 
forced to join with the South in the defeat of the meas- 



182 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ure. It was part of the scheme that the opprobrium 
of the defeat should be made to fall upou the Adams 
administration, aud so to contribute to the defeat of 
the Presideut for reelection later in the year. The bill 
referred to manufactures of no sort or kind, scornfully, 
and not altogether iuaptly, declared John Randolph, 
"but the manufacture of a president of the United 
States I " To the great chagrin of the Southern lead- 
ers, however, a sufficient number of New England ers 
gave their support to the bill to pass it, in the House 
by a vote of 105 to 94, and in the Senate by one of 26 
to 21. And Webster was one of the number. 

By writers upon this period of American history the 
course pursued by Webster in relation to the tariff of 
1828 has been interpreted in various ways. Some 
have viewed it as equivalent to a sheer surrender of 
principle. Certainly, it is true, that since his entrance 
of public life Webster had never before failed, not 
only to vote against protectionist measures, but to put 
forth his utmost endeavor to circumvent their adop- 
tion. Certainly also he was far from willing to approve 
all features of the act of 1828. That the measure con- 
stituted truly enough a "tariff of abominations" he 
would have been among the first to admit. None the 
less, he gave the bill both his voice and his vote, aud 
for the fundamental reason that he now believed that 
the country had adopted protection as a permanent 
policy, and that in this matter its purpose was for the 
time unshakable ; in which case it seemed to him alto- 
gether desirable that the policy should be followed up 
in a logical and systematic manner. In a speech of 
May 9th he explained to the Senate why, despite the 
many glaring faults of the bill, he proposed to give it 
his support. His first care was to disabuse the miuds 



IN THE SENATE : THE TAKIFF 183 

of some of his hearers of the idea that the present 
measure aod the protectionist policy which underlay 
it were to be attributed to the preferences of New Eng- 
land as a section. " New England, sir," he declared, 
" has not been a leader in this policy. On the con- 
trary, she held back herself, and tried to hold others 
back from it, from the adoption of the Constitution to 
1824. Up to 1824 she was accused of sinister and 
selfish designs, because she discountenanced the prog- 
ress of this policy. . . . Now the imputation is 
precisely of an opposite character. The present meas- 
ure is pronounced to be exclusively for the benefit of 
New England ; to be brought forward by her agency, 
and designed to gratify the cupidity of the proprietors 
of her wealthy establishments. Both charges, sir, are 
equally without the slightest foundation." 

Then follows a crisp exposition of the earlier New 
England attitude, which, as has appeared, had been 
precisely the attitude of Webster himself. "The 
opinion of New England up to 1824 was founded in 
the conviction that, on the whole, it was wisest and 
best, both for herself and others, that manufactures 
should make haste slowly. She felt a reluctance to 
trust great interests on the foundation of government 
patronage; for who could tell how long such patron- 
age would last, or with what steadiness, skill, or per- 
severance it would continue to be granted? . . . 
At the same time, it is true that, from the very first 
commencement of the government, those who have 
administered its concerns have held a tone of encour- 
agement and invitation toward those who should 
embark in manufactures. . . . "When, at the com- 
mencement of the late war, duties were doubled, we 
were told that we should find a mitigation of the 



184 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

weight of taxation in the new aid and succor which 
would be thus afforded to our own manufacturing 
labor. Like arguments were urged, and prevailed, 
but not by the aid of New England votes, when the 
tariff was afterward arranged, at the close of the war 
in 1816. Finally, after a whole winter's deliberation, 
the act of 1824 received the sanction of both houses 
of Congress, and settled the policy of the country. 
What, then, was New England to do f She was fitted 
for manufacturing operations, by the amount and 
character of her population, by her capital, by the 
vigor and energy of her free labor, by the skill, 
economy, enterprise, and perseverance of her people. 
I repeat, What was she under these circumstances to 
do ? A great and prosperous rival in her near neigh- 
borhood, threatening to draw from her a part, perhaps 
a great part, of her foreign commerce ; was she to use, 
or to neglect, those other means of seeking her own 
prosperity which belonged to her character and her 
condition? Was she to hold out forever against the 
course of the government, and see herself losing on one 
side, and yet make no effort to sustain herself on the 
other I No, sir. Nothing was left to New England, 
after the act of 1824, but to conform herself to the will 
of others. Nothing was left to her, but to consider 
that the government had fixed and determined its 
own policy ; and that policy was protection." 1 

The ground, therefore, upon which Webster sought 
to justify his course in voting for the bill was that of 
the sheer logic of circumstances — of circumstances 
which he, and the section of the country which he 

1 " Annals of Congress," 20th Cong., 1st sess., p. 751 ; " Works of 
Daniel Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 229-230 ; " Writings and Speeches," 
Vol. V, pp. 228-230. 



IN THE SENATE : THE TARIFF 185 

represented, had been powerless to control. There is 
no evidence that he now or at any later time aban- 
doned his belief in free-trade as an abstract principle. 
A tariff, none the less, he conceived to be no matter of 
morals, but rather a simple concern of business and 
of expediency, and in changing rather abruptly his 
public attitude upon the subject in 1828 he seemed 
neither to himself nor to most other men of fair temper 
to be inviting just opprobrium. Upon the constitu- 
tional aspects of protectionism he was silent in 1828 
and, in so far as possible, throughout his prolonged 
career as an advocate of high tariffs thereafter. There 
can be no question that upon this point he was obliged 
to modify, or to ignore, the views which he so posi- 
tively avowed in 1816 and still maintained in 1820. 
It is not clear that he ever fully accepted Clay's doc- 
trine that the power to lay protective duties is to be 
derived from the clause of the Constitution authorizing 
Congress to regulate foreign commerce. But he seems 
at least to have arrived at the conclusion that, the 
power having been exercised repeatedly at various 
stages of the country's history, and being bound up 
with the inevitable order of thiugs, the question was 
to be consigned to the category of res acljudicata. 1 
For his colleague, Mr. Silsbee, and the representa- 
tive of the Boston district, Mr. Gorham, both of whom 
voted against the measure, he had no word of re- 
proach. To him it had seemed the part of wisdom 
to "take the evil " of the bill for the sake of obtaining 
the good ; to them the evil had appeared too com- 
pletely to outweigh the good to render such a course 
desirable. " In the place I occupied," he subsequently 
explained to the people of his state, " I was one of the 

1 Lodge, "Webster." p. 170. 



186 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

representatives of the whole Commonwealth. I was 
not at liberty to look exclusively at the interests of 
the district in which I live, and which I have here- 
tofore had the high honor of representing. I was to 
extend my view from Barnstable to Berkshire ; to com- 
prehend in it a proper regard for all interests, and a 
proper respect for all opinions. Looking to the aggre- 
gate of all the interests of the Commonwealth, and 
regarding the general current of opinion, so far as that 
was properly to be respected, I saw, at least I thought 
I saw, my duty to lie in the path which I pursued. 
The measure is adopted. Its consequences, ior good or 
evil, must be left to the results of experience. In the 
meantime I refer the propriety of the vote which I 
gave, with entire submission, and with the utmost 
cheerfulness also, to the judgment of the good people 
of the Commouwealth. , ' * 

1 ''Works of Webster," Vol. I, p. 166. This passage occurs in 
the Faueuil Hall speech of June 5, 1828, to be mentioned presently. 
See p. 187. 



CHAPTEE VIII 

IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 

Upon his return to Boston at the close of the session 
of 1827-1828 Webster was accorded the honor, June 
5th, of a public dinner in Faueuil Hall. Despite the 
fact that his vote upon the recent tariff act was disap- 
proved by many of his fellow-citizens, it was recog- 
nized by every one that his career during his first year 
in the Senate had been marked by the continued dis- 
play of ability, independence, and integrity. To the 
flattering toast "Our distinguished guest, — worthy the 
noblest homage which freemen can give or a freeman 
receive, the homage of their hearts, " he responded in 
an extended speech, in the course of which, after ex- 
pressing deep appreciation of the compliment tendered 
him, he explained (as has been mentioned) the consid- 
erations by which he had been influenced to vote for 
the late tariff measure, touched upon his course in ref- 
erence to a variety of other legislative proceedings, de- 
livered a forceful argument in behalf of a liberal policy 
respecting internal improvements, and concluded with 
an eloquent defense of New England against charges of 
disloyalty which were all the while being circulated by 
the Jackson forces in an effort to cast opprobrium upon 
the candidacy of John Quincy Adams. 

One passage in the discourse deserves quotation, be- 
cause in it Webster stated succinctly to his friends the 
principle which underlay his attitude toward every sort 



188 DANIEL WEBSTER 

of public issue. Apropos internal improvements he 
declared: "It is my opinion, Mr. President, that the 
present government of the United States cannot be 
maintained but by administering it on principles as 
wide and broad as the country over which it extends. 
I mean, of course, no extension of the powers which it 
confers ; but I speak of the spirit with which those 
powers should be exercised. If there be any doubts 
whether so many republics, covering so vast a territory, 
can be long held together under this Constitution, there 
is no doubt in my judgment of the impossibility of so 
holding them together by any narrow, local, or selfish 
system of legislation. To render the Constitution per- 
petual (which God grant it may be), it is necessary 
that its benefits should be practically felt by all parts 
of the country, and all interests in the country. The 
East and the West, the North and the South, must all 
see their own welfare protected and advanced by it. 
While the eastern frontier is defended by fortifications, 
its harbors improved, and commerce protected by a 
naval force, it is right and just that the region beyond 
the Alleghanies should receive fair consideration and 
equal attention, in any object of public improvement, 
interesting to itself, and within the proper power of 
the government. These, sir, are the general views by 
which I have been governed on questions of this kind. 7 ' ' 
To the people of his section, who were prone to regard 
ihe building of trans- Alleghany roads and canals at 
the 'national expense as a matter of, at the least, no 
practical concern to themselves, Webster appealed to 
assume in this matter, as indeed in all others, a point 
of view more broadly nationalistic. The appeal was 

1,4 Works of Webster," Vol. I, p. 170; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. II, p. 20. 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 189 

rational and wholesome. It was the direct outcome of 
a decade and a half of broadening influence exerted 
upon Webster himself by the circumstances and associa- 
tions of his service in Congress and at the bar of the 
federal courts. In a letter of June 13th, Clay took oc- 
casion to extol in the strongest terms the entire speech, 
and especially the sentiments "truly national and pa- 
triotic," which were contained in it in reference to 
"the great interest of internal improvements." 
"Good," he declared, "will come of your work." 

It was with much satisfaction that, upon his return 
to Boston, Webster gathered again his children under 
his own roof, even though for a period of but a few 
months. Now and again he was seized with fits of de- 
pression from which only the presence and needs of 
those who were dear to him availed to arouse him. In 
the midst of somewhat exacting professional engage- 
ments he was deluged with invitations to public meet- 
ings and requests for public addresses from all parts of 
the nation, especially from Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire. Only a few of these could be accepted. 
On the 12th of November, at the opening of a course 
of lectures to be given throughout the winter by profes- 
sional and business men of note before the Boston Me- 
chanics' Institute, he delivered a discourse upon the 
relations of science and the practical arts, in which, 
while speaking of course as a layman, he gave evidence 
of no mean acquaintance with the progress of science 
and invention throughout the centuries. 1 In the same 
month he presided at a meeting held by a group of 
Boston gentlemen, at which there was brought into ex- 
istence an organization under the name of the Boston 

1 '• Works of Webster," Vol. I. pp. 175-190; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. II, pp. 27-40. 



190 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Of 
this society he, in the following year, became president. 
As has been pointed out, with the campaign of 1828 
Webster had not much to do. He maintained through- 
out its course the attitude of a supporter of the candi- 
dacy of Adams, but he did not believe, as did Clay, 
that Adams would win ; and on both public and per- 
sonal grounds he was too much out of sympathy with 
Adams to be able to exhibit zeal in the President's be- 
half. Of Jackson he knew little, and the little that he 
knew was unfavorable. The aspect of the campaign 
which interested him most was the reappearance of po- 
litical parties, a development by which, however, he 
was in no small degree distressed. It was only by the 
logic of circumstances that he was gradually forced to 
identify himself with the National Eepublican organi- 
zation, and eventually to assume a certain status of 
leadership within it. A Jacksonian he could not be, 
and in those days one could not well be other than a 
Jacksonian or an anti-Jacksonian — which is to say, a 
Democrat or a National Eepublican. To Webster at 
this time it seemed that the weakest portion of the Con- 
stitution was that which related to the executive and 
that a quadrennial scramble for the presidential office, 
such as the country had witnessed in 1824, and such as 
that through which it was at present passing, might 
easily prove subversive of the government itself. 
" The love of office," he declared in the Faneuil Hall 
speech, " will ere long triumph over the love of coun- 
try, and party and faction usurp the place of wisdom 
aud patriotism. If the contest for the executive power 
is thus to be renewed every four years ; if it is to be 
conducted as the present has been conducted ; and if 
every election is to be immediately followed, as the last 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 191 

was followed, by a prompt union of all whose friends 
are not chosen against him who is, there is, in my 
judgment, danger, much danger, that this great experi- 
ment of confederated government may fail, and that 
even those of us who are not among the youngest may 
behold its catastrophe." 1 

An illustration of the partisan bitterness of the time 
is afforded by a little-known episode in which Webster 
himself, near the close of the campaign, was involved. 
A number of New England Federalists who had never 
forgiven Adams for his friendliness toward the em- 
bargo measures of 1807-1809 were supporting Jackson 
and were maintaining in Boston a semi -weekly paper, 
the Jackson Republican. 2 On October 29, 1828, there 
appeared in this paper an article purporting to repro- 
duce a charge made by Adams to Jefferson in 1807- 
180S, and reiterated as late as 1828, to the effect that 
during the second Jefferson administration Harrison 
Gray Otis, Samuel Dexter, and other New England 
Federalists were engaged in a plot to dissolve the 
Union and to reannex New England to the dependen- 
cies of Great Britain. In the list of conspirators was 
included the name of Webster, and the writer of the 
article demanded to know, among other things, why 
"for three years he [Adams] has held to his bosom, as 
a political counselor, Daniel Webster, a man whom 
he called, in his midnight denunciation, a traitor in 
1808." Eesponsibility for the accusation was laid at 
the door principally of Theodore Lyman, Jr., one of 
the proprietors of the Republican, and a gentleman 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. I, p. 172. 

2 After the election of Jackson the name was changed to the 
Evening Bulletin and United States Republican. In 1830 the paper 
"as transferred to the New England Palladium, which during the 
same year was merged with the Columbian Centinel. 



192 DANIEL WEBSTER 

of ability and high social standing. Webster felt the 
charge keenly and, after ascertaining definitely that 
Lyman was the author of the article in question, he 
was impelled to do what no amount of provocation 
ever again drove him to do, namely, to bring suit in 
vindication of his name and honor. On indictment 
for criminal libel Lyman was brought to trial in the 
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in December, 
1828. 

By reason of the eminence of the parties directly or 
indirectly involved in it, the case commanded wide- 
spread interest. The burden of the contention of 
Webster and his counsel, the Solicitor-General Daniel 
Davis, was that, whereas Adams's actual charge was 
only that in 1808 leading Federalists (not named) of 
Massachusetts had been guilty of treasonable designs, 
Lyman had referred to Webster specifically as a per- 
son to whom the libel applied, which was tantamount 
to a libel of Webster by Lyman himself. Lyman's 
defense was (1) that the article was not libelous, be- 
cause, while Adams had not named individuals, he 
had charged all the leading Federalists with treason- 
able purposes, and while he spoke especially of the 
Federalists of Massachusetts, he really referred to all 
the leading Federalists of New England, of whom 
Webster was one, and (2) that the article — written 
hastily and in admitted disregard of the fact that in 
1808 Webster was not resident in Massachusetts — was 
directed, not against Webster, but against Adams, so 
that if Webster had been charged with implication in 
a treasonable plot it was by inadvertence. In view of 
the fact that Webster in 1807-1808 was but an obscure 
New Hampshire lawyer, who had never as yet sus- 
tained any sort of relations with the men who were 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 193 

named as his fellow-conspirators, the charge was so 
easily refuted as to be absurd ; and the defense of 
Lyman was shallow and halting. At the same time 
it is to be observed that there was offered to Lyman 
no opportunity to retract, or to explain, outside of 
court. The indictment was based upon the law of 
scandahim magnatum, or slander of great men, not un- 
known to English usage but never adox>ted into the 
common law of the United States. And, furthermore, 
a criminal suit was brought rather than a civil action 
for damages, rendering it possible, as the law then 
was, for Webster, but not for Lyman, to testify. In 
other words, the conditions of the trial were shaped 
deliberately to place the defendant at an unusual dis- 
advantage ; and it is impossible to escape the convic- 
tion that the bitterness felt by the plaintiff and his 
political friends toward the " renegade " Lyman played 
some part in the whole proceeding. 

The jury in the end found itself unable to agree 
upon the facts involved. Ten members favored con- 
viction, but two dissented. The case was continued 
until the March term, 1829, and thence until the 
November term following. But when the November 
term arrived the Solicitor-General, with Webster's 
consent, entered a nolle prosequi, and the case was 
dropped. Lyman clearly considered the action more 
political than personal. Previously he and Webster 
had been on intimate terms socially, and within a year 
or two they were so again. The reconciliation was 
promoted by the fact that, in December, 1829, Web- 
ster married as his second wife a former schoolmate 
of Mrs. Lyman. In 1831 Lyman was elected mayor of 
Boston as the " Jackson candidate. " The episode, 
furthermore, does not appear to have affected the 



194 DANIEL WEBSTER 

relations existing between Webster and President 
Adams. March 29, 1829, after Adams had retired 
from office, he recorded in his diary that Webster 
had called to take his leave and that the senator 
had declared that he entertained ' ' no feeling of 
dissatisfaction." 

When Webster returned to Washington at the open- 
ing of the session of 1828-1829 he found official circles 
at the capital absorbed principally in speculation con- 
cerning the prospective policies and measures of Jack- 
son. From Clay came the counsel that, pending the 
establishment of the new administration, the National 
Eepublican policy should be to avoid alike professions 
of support and declarations of hostility ; and with the 
course thus marked out Webster was in entire sym- 
pathy. In a memorandum of February, 1829, com- 
municated probably to Ezekiel, the situation at the 
capital is characterized in scattered jottings as follows : 
' ' General Jackson will be here about 15th February. 
Nobody knows what he will do when he does come. 
Many letters are sent to him ; he answers none of them. 
His friends here pretend to be very knowing ; but, be 
assured, not one of them has any confidential communi- 
cation from him. Great efforts are making to put him 
up to a general sweep, as to all offices ; sp ringing from 
great doubts whether he is disposed to go it. Nobody 
is authorized to say whether he intends to retire, after 
one term of service. Who will form his cabinet is as 
well known at Boston as at Washington. . . . My 
opinion is, that when he comes he will bring a breeze 
with him. Which way it will blow I cannot tell. 
. . . My fear is stronger than my hope. " 1 There 
is added this exhortation relative to Clay : " Keep New 
l Van Tyne, "Letters of Daniel Webster," pp.142-143. 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 195 

Eugland firm and steady, and she can make him Presi- 
dent if she chooses." On February 9th Jackson ar- 
rived in Washington. Ten days later Webster wrote 
to his sister-in-law that "the city is full of speculation 
and speculators j a great multitude, too many to be fed 
without a miracle, are already in the city, hungry for 
office." March 4th he writes : " To-day we have had 
the inauguration. A monstrous crowd of people is in 
the city. I never saw anything like it before. Per- 
sons have come five hundred miles to see General Jack- 
son, and they really seem to think that the country is 
rescued from some dreadful danger. The inaugura- 
tion speech you will see. I cannot make much of it, 
except that it is anti-tariff, at least in some degree. 
What it says about reform in office may be either a 
prelude to a general change in office, or a mere sop to 
soothe the hunger, without satisfying it, of the thou- 
sand expectants for office who throng the city, and 
clamor all over the country. I expect some changes, 
but not a great many at present." l 

The Senate was convened in special session March 
4th. This circumstance, together with a number of 
professional engagements, detained Webster in Wash- 
ington upward of six weeks, and during the period he 
chafed like a boy in school. "My health is good," he 
writes to his sister-in-law, "but I find, to confess the 
truth, that I am growing indolent. I would be glad 
to have more decisive volitions. I do nothing in Con- 
gress or the court but what is clearly necessary ; and 
in such cases, even, my efforts 'come haltingly off.' 
In short, I believe the truth is, that I am growing old, 
and age, you know, or rather you have heard, requires 

1 Webster to Mrs. Ezekiel Webster, March 4. 1829. Webster, 
"Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 473. 



f 



196 DANIEL WEBSTER 

repose. " l To Ezekiel he writes a fortnight later in a 
strain to suggest that he was seriously considering a 
retirement from public life. Over his own protest 
Ezekiel, some weeks previously, had been nominated to 
Congress, and although Daniel was extremely desirous 
of his brother's election, neither he nor Ezekiel was at 
all confident. "If no change takes place," he writes, 
" in my own condition, of which I have not the slight- 
est expectation, and if you are not elected, I shall not 
return [to Washington]. This, inter nos, but my mind 
is settled. Under present circumstances, public and 
domestic, it is disagreeable being here, and to me there 
is no novelty to make compensation. It will be better 
for me and my children that I should be with them. 
If I do not come in a public, I shall not in a profes- 
sional, character. I can leave the court now as well as 
ever, and can earn my bread as well at home as here. 
Your company and that of your wife would make a 
great difference." 2 In this same letter, written imme- 
diately prior to the election, Webster declared that of 
Ezekiel' s being returned he had not "much expecta- 
tion" ; and the ensuing results proved his apprehen- 
sions to have been well founded. 

During the second week of April Webster arrived at 
his home in Boston, only immediately to be over- 
whelmed by the news of his brother's sudden and 
wholly unexpected death. The decease, which took 
place in the court-house at Concord, is thus described 
by a son-in-law. "Mr. Webster was speaking, stand 
ing erect, on a plain floor, the house full, and the court 



1 Webster to Mrs. Ezekiel Webster, March 2, 1829. Webster, 
' ' Private Correspondence, ' ■ Vol. I, p. 472. 

'Daniel to Ezekiel Webster, March 15, 1829. Ibid., Vol. I, 
p. 474. 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 197 

and jurors and auditors intently listening to his words, 
with all their eyes fastened upon him. Speaking with 
full force, and perfect utterance, he arrived at the end 
of one branch of his argument. He closed that branch, 
uttered the last sentence, and the last word of that sen- 
tence, with perfect tone and emphasis, and then, in an 
instant, erect, and with arms depending by his side, he 
fell backward, without bending a joint, and, so far as 
appeared, was dead before his head reached the floor. " ' 
Mrs. Webster and the elder of the two daughters were 
in Boston at the time, and it was there, at three o'clock 
on the morning of the 11th, that information of the 
death, which had occurred at four o'clock the previous 
afternoon, reached them. The wife and daughter, to- 
gether with the brother and his two sons, arrived at 
Boscawen at nine o'clock the same evening, and the 
funeral was held on the following day. The grief of 
the surviving brother was extreme. "He [Ezekiel] 
has been my reliance through life, and I have derived 
much of its happiness from his fraternal affection." 
The tribute was simple, but heartfelt. In response to 
a note of condolence from Jeremiah Mason he writes : 
* ' You do not and cannot overrate the strength of the 
shock which my brother's death has caused me. I 
have felt but one such in life ; and this follows that so 
soon that it requires more fortitude than I possess to 
bear it with firmness, such perhaps as I ought. . . . 
With a multitude of acquaintance, I have few friends ; 
my nearest intimacies are broken and a sad void is 
made in the objects of affection." 2 Rarely are brothers 



1 Edwin D. Sanborn, quoted in Curtis, "Webster," Vol. I, 
p. 341. 

'Webster to Mason, April 19,1829. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence, 1 ' Vol. I, p, 477. 



1<J8 DANIEL WEBSTEli 

bound by a tie of such virility as that which underlay 
the relations of the two Websters. Established in the 
days of poverty-stricken boyhood, and strengthened 
through the arduous period of youth and early man- 
hood, it had continued to the present the most tangible 
controlling force in the careers of the two men. In in- 
tellect, in oratorical power, and in breadth of informa- 
tion Daniel was much the superior ; in integrity and 
loftiness of spirit he was his brother's equal, but no 
more ; in industry, thrift, and patience he was in- 
disputably the inferior. At every stage of his public 
career he had been accustomed to take Ezekiel into 
council, and not infrequently to defer to his judgment. 
The loss which he now suffered was beyond repair. 

It fell to Webster during the ensuing summer to 
give much of his time to the adjustment of his brother's 
family and business affairs. Ezekiel, at his death, 
was forty-nine years of age. By dint of persistent 
effort he had acquired a competency for those depend- 
ent upon him, although not such but that careful 
management was required to preserve and make the 
most of it. By arrangement with the guardian of his 
brother's children, the farm at Franklin, containing 
the graves of his parents and of his brothers and 
sisters, passed now into Daniel's possession, and to it 
he thereafter made repeated reverential pilgrimages. 
In the course of time he regained some measure of 
good spirits, and the idea of abandoning public life 
was given up. During the autumn of 1829 he had 
occasion to spend some weeks in New York in the 
pursuit of professional duties, and while there he 
became engaged to marry Miss Caroline Le Eoy, sec- 
ond daughter of Jacob Le Eoy, a wealthy merchant 
and a member of one of New York's most honored 



IN THE SENATE : THE H AYNE DEBATE 199 

families. The wedding took place iu December, and 
before the beginning of the new year Webster was 
again in a home circle of his own in Washington. 
The elder son, Daniel Fletcher, was now a freshman 
iu Harvard College, and the younger, Edward, was in 
a preparatory school. The daughter, Julia, whose 
health was not good, was taken to Washington. 

Meanwhile the affairs of the country were approach- 
ing a crisis, and in order to make clear the significance 
of the part which Webster was destined shortly to 
play in the drift of these affairs some attention must 
be given to the character of the situation which, by 
the close of the first year of Jackson's presidency, had 
developed. To the student of the third and fourth 
decades of our national history two great facts are 
patent. One of them is that at the close of the War of 
1812, the United States possessed a larger measure 
of solidarity and its people a closer community of in- 
terest than at any time since the adoption of the Con- 
stitution. The other is that the period 1815-1830, and 
especially the second half of it, is notable above all 
other things for the rapid growth of sectionalism 
which took place within it. In 1815 the nation was 
flushed with the enthusiasm of victory. Its enemies 
abroad had been driven to cover, the malcontents at 
home discredited and silenced. Into the pursuits of 
peace it threw itself with unreserved energy. In fine 
disregard of carping critics, and with the assent of 
well-nigh all elements of the people, it laid tariffs to 
protect its newly risen manufactures, it appropriated 
national moneys for the improvement of means of 
trade and travel, it established a bank for the regula- 
tion of currency and the facilitation of public finance, 
it acquired territory for the adjustment of border 



200 DANIEL WBBSTEE 

difficulties and the extension of the country to its 
natural frontiers. By 1830, none the less, this same 
nationalized republic had come to be, in no small 
degree, a mere aggregate of sections or regions, each 
with its own interests, its own conditions, its own 
demands, its own prospects. New England was a pre- 
dominantly commercial, changing now into a predomi- 
nantly manufacturing, section. Pennsylvania was a 
manufacturing section, but of an entirely different 
sort. The West, to the north of the Ohio Kiver, was 
an agricultural section, producing principally food- 
stuffs and seeking ever a wider market for them. 
Virginia and adjacent portions of the older South com- 
prised an agricultural section in decline, with soil 
outworn, and inclining more and more toward slave- 
breeding as a source of wealth. The further South 
— both the seaboard and the newer regions westward 
to the Texan frontier— was the great cotton-growing, 
slaveholding section, peculiar unto itself, profoundly 
conscious of its peculiarity, and, like every other one 
of the sections that have been enumerated, jealous of 
its interests and vigilant to defend them. 

To attempt an explanation of the causes contributing 
to this remarkable transformation — the fundamental 
fact, in some regards, of the history of the " middle 
period 7 ? — would lead too far afield. These causes were, 
in part, political. The acerbities arising from the 
presidential campaigns of 1824 and 1828, for example, 
when, in default of clear-cut party lines, candidates 
represented in some measure rival sections of the 
country, undoubtedly had their decentralizing effect. 
Much more largely, however, these causes were eco- 
nomic and social. They sprang, in larger part, from 
diversity of occupation, of industrial condition, and of 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 201 

local interest. It would be possible to illustrate the 
rise and progress of sectionalism with perfect clearness 
by reference to the history of internal improvements, of 
the national bank, or of any one of many other public 
issues of the period. Most striking, however, is the 
evidence afforded by the history of the tariff— a topic 
upon which there has been occasion to touch at a 
number of earlier points in this volume. The tarift 
of 1816 was enacted in response to a wide-spread and 
insistent demand that the infant industries which had 
sprung up during the war should be safeguarded 
against the ruin which impended at the hand of for- 
eign, mainly British, competition. In no quarter was 
the measure seriously or formidably opposed. By its 
operation the entire country was expected to be bene- 
fited. Not many years, or even months, of experience, 
however, were required to inaugurate a gradual but 
thoroughgoing disruption of this unanimity of tariff 
sentiment. The woolen manufacturers of Rhode Island 
aud Connecticut speedily developed a point of view 
with which the wool-growers of Pennsylvania and 
Ohio could hardly be expected to sympathize ; the 
Portsmouth ship-builder wanted free hemp, while the 
Kentucky hemp producer clamored for a share in 
the benefits supposed to accrue from a protective duty 
upon his commodity ; the iron manufacturer of Pitts- 
burgh had his individual interests ; and so ad infinitum. 
Under the operation of these conditions the framing 
of tariff bills became inevitably the occasion of log- 
rolling, of intrigue, and of the display of the most 
discordant sectional demands. It was so in 1820, in 
1824, in 1827, and in 1828. Each section as a matter 
of course played for the maximum of advantage and 
the minimum of concession. 



202 DANIEL WEBSTER 

One of the clearest effects of the prolonged con- 
troversy which arose upon the subject of the tariff was 
the setting of a great section, the South, in an attitude 
of unalterable opposition to protective duties of what- 
soever nature or purport. In 1816 the South did not 
apprehend that she might not expect to have some 
direct share in the forthcoming expansion of manufac- 
turing industry. It was not even clear that, should 
manufactures fail to be developed, the increased de- 
mand for raw materials in the North would not com- 
pensate her for any increase that might appear in the 
cost of the manufactured commodities which she 
needed. All illusions upon these points, however, 
were in time dispelled. Slave labor, it was discovered, 
could not at all be adapted to the purposes of manufac- 
ture. The foreign market for raw cotton, it was found, 
was even more valuable than the home market and the 
freer the conditions of trade the more inviting the for- 
eign market was certain to be. Tariffs, it was realized, 
not only operated to close markets ; they increased the 
cost of clothing, machinery, and other manufactured 
goods which the planters had to buy. That the South 
not only did not profit by the protective system, but 
actually suffered by reason of it, came therefore to be 
the settled conviction of most — eventually of virtually 
all — Southern men. Lowndes broke with protectionism 
in 1820, Calhoun not definitely before 1826 or 1827 ; 
but by 1828 Southern leaders were almost unanimously 
in opposition. 

The enactment of the tariff of 1828 — a measure 
framed by Southern men, as has appeared, expressly 
to be defeated — caused in the cotton -growing states 
chagrin and exasperation. That such a measure could 
be passed seemed clearly to sustain the thesis laid down 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 203 

by Webster that, for better or for worse, protectionism 
had become the settled policy of the country. In the 
manufacturing states the protective idea was rampant. 
Scarcely less so was it in the great wool, hemp, iron, 
and food producing regions of the West and Southwest. 
The day seemed to have arrived when, in defense of 
her peculiar interests, the South must do more than 
speak and vote through her representatives in Congress. 
Protest hitherto had been by no means lacking. In 
1824 the seuate of South Carolina declared protective 
tariffs unconstitutional. A year later the lower house 
adopted a resolution affirming the inalienable right of 
remonstrance against federal encroachments and de- 
claring the laying of duties to protect domestic manu- 
factures to be " an unconstitutional exercise of power." 
In March, 1826, the legislature of Virginia, reaffirming 
the principles of the resolutions of 1798, pronounced a 
protective tariff unconstitutional and " highly oppress- 
ive and partial in its operation." In December, 1827, 
the legislature of Georgia adopted a report declaring 
that " an increase of tariff duties will and ought to be 
resisted by all legal and constitutional means. " Other 
similar expressions antedating the act of 1828 might be 
cited. 

The effect of the Tariff of Abominations was to call 
out expressions still less conciliatory in tone. The 
most noteworthy was that embodied in a set of eight 
resolutions adopted by the legislature of South Caro- 
lina, December 19, 1828, and accompanied by an elab- 
orate report, drafted originally by Calhoun, known as 
the South Carolina Exposition. In this composite 
document were contained the essentials of the constitu- 
tional argument which underlay the nullification move- 
ment of 1832 : that, namely, the federal government 



204 DANIEL WEBSTER 

exists by virtue of a compact among the states ; that 
the powers which may legitimately be exercised by the 
federal government do not transcend those which are 
expressly delegated in the Constitution ; that each 
state, as a party to the compact, has an independent 
right, which it enjoys equally with all the other states, 
to judge for itself the constitutionality of any measure 
undertaken by the " joint agent" of the states; and 
that any state, believing a measure of the federal gov- 
ernment to have been undertaken in contravention of 
the Constitution, possesses the right to interpose its 
authority in its own defense, i. e., to declare the given 
measure, within the limits of the state, null and void. 
In the substance of this argument there was, even in 
1828, nothing that was new. The fundamental as- 
sumptions upon which it was based were as old as the 
Constitution itself, and in the Kentucky and Virginia 
Resolutions of 1797-1798 every essential of the Calhoun 
doctrine of 1828 may easily be recognized, even to the 
employment, in the second set of Kentucky resolutions, 
in 1799, of the word "nullification." Calhoun him- 
self, in the treatises that flowed from his pen in 1831, 
surpassed by a wide margin the present effort in elab- 
orateness of historical appeal and in subtlety of logic. 
The importance, none the less, of the South Carolina 
manifesto of 1828 was very great. The document was 
promulgated at a time when the public mind, deeply 
agitated, was prepared to be profoundly impressed. 
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions had, in their 
day, fallen flat. Despite the efforts of their sponsors, 
they made but a limited appeal and elicited but feeble 
response. The South Carolina pronouncement of 1828 
met with a very much more cordial reception. Three 
other Southern states, through their legislatures, ex- 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 205 

pressed formal concurrence in part or all of the senti- 
ments contained, and in numerous other quarters there 
were sympathy and openly avowed support. 

One circumstance chiefly, perhaps it alone, served 
to avert an immediate attempt to reduce the theories 
of the Exposition to practice. That was the impend- 
ing change of administrations, involving as it did at 
least the possibility of a reversal of tariff policy, by 
which the way should be opened for an easy and nat- 
ural escape from the impasse into which the South be- 
lieved itself to have been driven. In respect to the 
tariff Jackson, prior to his election, had said little, and 
the little which he had said was to no practical effect. 
He was supposed to be mildly favorable to protection, 
but in what measure he was so and what effect his at- 
titude would have upon the existing situation, were 
mysteries no man could fathom. From the point of 
view of the South there was at least some ground for 
hope, and the disposition which almost universally 
prevailed was to give the new executive a chance and 
await developments. From the inaugural it was im- 
possible to glean any distinct foreshadowings of policy, 
and the issue rested until the convening of the Twenty- 
first Congress, December 7, 1829. In his first annual 
message Jackson spoke at some length of the tariff, but 
beyond a few specific recommendations respecting 
schedules he said little that was of definite import. 
One thing, however, was manifest : he did not an- 
nounce, nor even counsel, the adoption of a policy 
of systematic tariff reduction. On the contrary, his 
assumption that there would long continue to accrue 
from the tariff a surplus of revenue seemed clearly to 
indicate his purpose not at any subsequent time to ad- 
vocate the renunciation of protectionism. He even 



206 DANIEL WEBSTER 

suggested an amendment to the Constitution, if it 
should be deemed necessary, to authorize the distribu- 
tion among the states of the recurring surpluses. The 
South was disappointed grievously; and, although 
there was required the stiug of yet another protection- 
ist tariff law before nullification should be undertaken, 
it is not too much to say that with the sending in of 
the first Jackson message to Congress the fateful issue 
was definitely reopened. 

It was at this critical juncture that there took place 
on the floor of the Senate one of the most memorable 
of debates, participated in by two of the most skilled 
debaters, and upon the most fundamental of subjects 
known to American history. December 29, 1829, 
Samuel A. Foote, senator from Connecticut, introduced 
in the Senate a resolution whereby the Committee ou 
Public Lands was instructed to inquire into the expe- 
diency of limiting for a period the sales of public lands 
to such lands as had theretofore been placed upon the 
market and were subject to entry at the minimum 
price of $1.25 per acre. In itself, the resolution was 
harmless enough. It had been pointed out by the 
commissioner of the land office that the supply of land 
upon the market far exceeded the demand and that 
sales were proceeding in a sluggish and haphazard 
manner, and Senator Foote proposed simply that the 
placing of new lands upon the market should be dis- 
continued pending an investigation of the conditions 
attending current sales. No sooner did the resolution 
make its appearance, however, than it was challenged 
by the representatives of the Middle West, and it was 
only over vigorous protest that its consideration was 
set for the eleventh day of January, 1830. The debate 
upon it was begun, in point of fact, on the thirteenth. 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 207 

On the eighteenth Senator Benton, of Missouri, deliv- 
ered a lengthy speech in which it was maintained that 
the West had been called upon much too frequently 
to sacrifice its interests at the behest of the East, that 
the prosperity of the West depended absolutely upon 
the rapid and unobstructed settlement of the country, 
and that the present measure, by imposing restrictions 
upon the sale of public lands, was calculated to retard 
the progress of the section of the nation which the 
speaker represented. A number of members partici- 
pated in the general discussion that followed, among 
them Holmes, of Maine, who spoke in defense of the 
resolution. The last speaker of the day was Robert Y. 
Hayne, of South Carolina. 

Hayne belonged to the younger group of members of 
the upper house. He was representative of all that was 
proudest and best in the South Carolina of his time — a 
man of education and dignity, an able lawyer, a fluent 
orator, a persuasive debater, and an adroit parliamen- 
tarian. Since his election to the popular branch of the 
legislature of his state in 1814 he had risen rapidly in 
the public eye. In 1822 he was chosen to the United 
States Senate, and in 1823 he took his seat in that 
body. At Washington he won almost instant distinc- 
tion by a powerful speech in opposition to the tariff 
of 1824, and in the years that ensued he came to be 
kuown and feared as the ablest and boldest spokesman 
of the South in the upper house. As early as 1826, 
during the course of the debates on the Panama mis- 
sion, he sounded the threat that secession would be the 
remedy to which resort would be had in the event that 
the security of the slaveholding interests should con- 
tinue to be menaced. In 1828 he was reelected to the 
Senate by uuauimous vote of the South Carolina legis- 



208 DANIEL WEBSTER 

lature, and during the troubled period which followed 
the enactment of the tariff of that year he assumed 
within his state a position of more open, if not more 
effective, leadership than even that occupied by Cal- 
houn. As yet, in 1830, it should be observed, Calhoun 
was silenced in a measure by his tenure of the vice- 
presidential office. 

\ In his speech of January 19th Hayne vigorously 
attacked the Foote resolution. He contended, in the 
hrst place, that its adoption would impose a restriction 
upon the natural development of the West and that, it 
indubitably was, as Benton and other Western senators 
had contended, an expression of Eastern jealousy of, 
and unfriendliness toward, the West. He made much 
of the argument that there existed a natural sympathy 
between the West and the South, and called upon the 
West to recognize in the South, rather than in the 
East, its logical ally. The proposed measure, he 
urged, was but one manifestation of the deep-seated 
disposition on the part of the East, and particularly 
JSTew England, to check westward migration, to build 
up manufactures, and to perpetuate indefinitely the 
protective system. Finally, there was deprecation of 
all "unnecessary extension of the powers or the in- 
fluence of the Legislature or Executive of the Union 
over the States, or the people of the States." 

At the moment when Hayne began speaking Web- 
ster, quite by chance it appears, came into the Senate 
chamber from the Supreme Court, Completely en- 
grossed by pending business in the Court, he had 
given thus far little or no attention to a debate whose 
principal feature appeared to be the readiness of the 
speakers to wander from the point at issue. On the 
next day, the 20th, argument was to begin in an im- 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 209 

portant cause in which Webster was employed, that of 
Carver's Lessees vs. John Jacob Astor, arising out 
of a controversy between the fur magnate and the 
state of New York. Seemingly it was only by the 
hearing of Hayne's discourse that the Massachusetts 
senator, moved by resentment of the reproaches cast 
upon his section and alarmed by the frankness of 
the South Carolinian's particularistic appeals, was 
prompted to enter the lists. This does not mean that 
Webster was not willing enough to take advantage of 
any opportunity that might arise to defend with all 
the eloquence of which he was master both his section 
and the Union. It does not mean, even, that he was 
not, at this stage of his career, half- consciously seeking 
precisely the sort of opportunity that now presented 
itself. It only means that there is no reason to believe 
that Webster had expected the Foote resolution to be 
productive of such an opportunity, or that he had ex- 
pected to participate in the discussion which grew out 
of that proposal. That the contest with Hayne was 
entered upon without premeditation is the direct testi- 
mony of Webster himself. Speaking in New York, in 
March, 1831, upon the occasion of a public dinner in 
his honor, he declared : u Seeing the true grounds of 
the Constitution thus attacked, I raised my voice in 
its favor, I must confess, with no preparation or pre- 
vious intention. I can hardly say that I embarked in 
the contest from a sense of duty. It was an instanta- 
neous impulse of inclination, not acting against duty, I 
trust, but hardly waiting for its suggestions. I felt it 
to be a contest for the integrity of the Constitution, 
and I was ready to enter into it, not thinking, or 
caring, personally, how I might come out." l 
1 " Works of Webster," Vol. I, p. 211. 



210 DANIEL WEBSTER 

At the conclusion of Hayne' s speech, on the 19th, 
Webster rose to undertake a reply, but a motion to 
adjourn cut off debate and the intended reply was made 
upon the following day. The speech of January 20th, 
characterized properly by Mr. Lodge as u one of the 
most effective retorts, one of the strongest pieces of 
destructive criticism, ever uttered in the Senate," l 
comprised in its essentials a vindication of the policy 
of the government toward the newer states of the West 
and, more notably, a defense of New England as a sec- 
tion against the charges of selfishness, jealousy, and 
disloyalty which had been brought against her. Not 
only was it denied that the East had at any time shown 
an illiberal policy toward the West ; it was demon- 
strated by a brilliant review of public measures, begin- 
ning with the Northwest Ordinance, that again and 
again legislation admittedly favorable to the West had 
been carried only with the aid of New England votes. 
The tendency of such utterances as those voiced by 
Hayne " to bring the Union into discussion, as a mere 
question of present and temporary expediency " was 
especially lamented. 2 

On the following day a member from Maryland, in 
recognition of Webster's engagement in the Supreme 
Court, moved a postponement of the continuation of 
the discussion. But Hayne demanded the privilege of 
an immediate reply, and Webster was obliged to mod- 
ify his plans in order to remain in the Senate chamber. 
The speech begun by Hayne on the 21st and completed 
four days later covered a wide range of subjects. Dis- 
claiming antipathy toward the people of New England, 

1 Lodge, "Webster," p. 173. 

2 "Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 248-269 ; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. V, pp. 248-269. 



IK THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 211 

the speaker none the less reiterated his charges of Fed- 
eralist disloyalty and accused Webster himself of im- 
plication in political "bargain and corruption." He 
lamented the tendency of the times toward a policy of 
" consolidation, " and he pointed to the tariff of 1828 
as an unmistakable manifestation of that policy. And, 
citing freely the Kentucky and Virginia Eesolutious 
and the South Carolina Exposition, he developed with 
some minuteness and ingenuity the fundamental predi- 
cations, doctrines, and conclusions of state rights and 
nullification. Throughout the speech Webster took 
notes, and at its close he rose to reply. An adjourn- 
ment was moved and carried ; but under the rules of 
the Senate the Massachusetts member was entitled to 
the floor at the opening of the next day's sitting. 

Already the brilliance of the debate had attracted 
wide attention. The hotels of the city were filled with 
people who had come from a distance to follow the 
course of the discussion, and when, on the morning of 
the 26th, the doors of the Senate chamber were thrown 
open, every available inch of s})ace in the galleries and 
on the floor was soon filled with interested, and even 
excited, spectators. So great was the pressure that all 
rules respecting the attendance of the public were 
waived. Ladies were admitted to the seats of the 
members, and the throng overflowed through the lob- 
bies and down the long stairways, quite beyond hear- 
ing distance. In the House of Representatives the 
Speaker remained at his post, but the attendance was 
so scant that no business could be transacted. "I 
never spoke," declared Webster subsequently, " in the 
presence of an audience so eager and so sympathetic." ' 

1 Webster to Dutton, March 8, 1830. Webster, "Private Cor- 
respondence,-' Vol. I, p. 494. For a graphic description of the 



212 DANIEL WEBSTER 

No possible incentive to powerful exertion, indeed, 
was lacking. The theme of discussion had come to be 
nothing less than the nature and permanence of the 
Union. The forces in opposition, represented not 
alone by the dashing senator from South Carolina, but 
by the still better known South Carolinian to whom it 
fell to occupy the chair while the debate proceeded, 
were adroit and commanding. The hearing repre- 
sented the finest culture and ability of the country. 
In the heart of Webster, now in his physical and intel- 
lectual prime, these circumstances inspired only con- 
fidence, resoluteness, and fervor. Already recognized 
as the foremost statesman of New England, the ablest 
American constitutional lawyer, and the greatest of 
American orators, he rose with all his superb dignity 
and capacity to meet an occasion which meant not only 
the crowning or the collapse of his own reputation but 
the vindication or the discrediting of the conception of 
national unity and vigor for which he stood. Again 
he spoke with such immediate preparation only as the 
labors of a single night made possible. His written 
materials were confined to five letter-paper pages of 
notes. In point of fact, however, the entire previous 
career of the man had constituted preparation for pre- 
cisely such a supreme effort. The origins of the fed- 
eral union, the theories and applications of the Consti- 
tution, the history and character of the doctrine of nul- 
lification—these were matters with which years of 
study, observation, professional activity, and ac- 
quaintance with great men had made him absolutely 



scene and of Webster's manner upon the occasion see March, 
" Reminiscences of Congress," pp. 132-148, reproduced in part in 
Everett's "Memoir," in "Works of Daniel Webster," Vol. I, pp. 
92-97. 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 213 

familiar ; and while there devolved upon him in the 
few hours preceding his speech of the 26th the marshal- 
ing of his materials and the blocking out of the pro- 
portions and sequences of his arguments, he was 
equipped in both mental power and range of knowledge 
to accomplish the task with a readiness and a thor- 
oughness of which no other living American would 
have been capable. 

The " Second Keply to Hayne," as the speech of the 
26th and 27th is commonly known, opened with an ex- 
ordium calculated to alleviate the tenseness of the mo- 
ment and to supply the forthcoming argument with a 
direct and appealing introduction. " Mr. President," 
began the speaker, ' ' when the mariner has been tossed 
for many days in thick weather, and on an unknown 
sea, he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the 
storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his lati- 
tude, and ascertain how far the elements have driven 
him from his true course. Let us imitate this prudence, 
and, before we float farther on the waves of this de- 
bate, refer to the point from which we departed, that 
we may at least be able to conjecture where we now 
are." l The attention of the Senate was then directed 
in a simple manner to the fact that the proposal nomi- 
nally under consideration, i.e., the Foote Resolution, 
had been quite lost to view, and in the earlier portion 
of the speech an effort was made to bring back the dis- 
cussion to its point of departure. The text of the en- 
tire speech, as reported by Joseph Gales, senior editor 
of the National Intelligencer, fills seventy -three pages 
of print, and of this amount no fewer than forty-eight 
pages are taken up with a defense of New England, 

l " Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, p. 270; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VI, p. 3. 



214 DANIEL WEBSTER 

and especially Massachusetts, against the charges of 
sectionalism and disloyalty reiterated in the second 
speech of Hayne. Once more, and at greater length, 
was reviewed, with a wealth of illustration and his- 
torical allusion, New England's share in the settlement 
and development of the West, in the promotion of a 
liberal public land policy, in the making of provision 
for internal improvements, and in the enactment of 
tariff legislation ; and it was denied with fresh vigor 
that New England as a section had ever countenanced 
disunion — even that the Hartford Convention had nur- 
tured the treasonable sentiment which Hayne ascribed 
to it. Few of Webster's utterances are more familiar 
than the sentences with which this portion of the 
speech was brought to a close. "Mr. President," he 
declared, ' ' I shall enter on no encomium of Massachu- 
setts ; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, 
and judge for yourselves. There is her history ; the 
world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. 
There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and 
Banker Hill ; and there they will remain forever. 
The bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for 
Independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every 
state from New England to Georgia ; and there they 
will lie forever. And, sir, where American Liberty 
raised its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured 
and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its 
manhood and full of its original spirit. If discord and 
disunion shall wound it, if party strife and blind am- 
bition shall hawk at and tear it, if folly and madness, 
if uneasiness under salutary and necessary restraint, 
shall succeed in separating it from the Union, by which 
alone its existence is made sure, it will stand, in the 
end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 215 

rocked ; it will stretch forth its arm with whatever of 
vigor it may still retain over the friends who gather 
round it ; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst 
the proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the 
very spot of its origin." * 

The portion of the Second Reply, however, which 
entitles the speech to be considered the most remark- 
able in the history of American forensics is that which 
was devoted to refutation of the doctrine of nullifica- 
tion and appeal for the solidarity and indestructibility 
of the Union. " There remains yet to be performed, 
Mr. President," declared the speaker, "by far the 
most grave and important duty, which I feel to be 
devolved upon me by this occasion. It is to state, and 
to defend, what I conceive to be the true principles 
of the Constitution under which we are here assembled. ,; 
The wish was avowed that the task might have fallen 
"into abler and better hands" ; but the occasion had 
been "encountered, not sought," and Webster was the 
last among men to shrink from the responsibilities 
which it imposed. The position assumed by Hayne 
had been that it was the right of the legislature of a 
state to intervene whenever in its judgment the federal 
government should transcend its constitutional limits, 
and to thwart the execution of any and all measures 
of that government adjudged by it to be unconstitu- 
tional. The validity of this proposition Webster un- 
reservedly denied. That there exists, in the United 
States as in all nations, an ultimate right of revolution, 
and that the people, here as elsewhere, had a right 
to resist the execution of unconstitutional laws, he 
declared to be altogether beyond question. But that 



1 u 



'Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, p. 317; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VI, p. 50, 



216 DANIEL WEBSTER 

between implicit and universal obedience to law, on 
the one hand, and revolution, involving the overthrow 
of the existing order and the establishment of a new 
one, on the other hand, there could be any admissible 
middle course, was pronounced an egregious and alarm- 
ing fallacy. It being agreed that the people ought 
not to be expected to be obedient to unconstitutional 
laws, the vital question, it was pointed out, was as to 
whose prerogative it was to decide the constitution- 
ality or unconstitutionality of measures which should 
be brought in question. The contention of Hayne 
and of his school was that this power was lodged, not 
in the general government or in any branch thereof, 
but in the legislatures of the several sovereign states. 
Webster's contention was that it was lodged in a 
branch of the federal government, namely in the judi- 
ciary ; that this branch of the government was created 
in part to discharge this very function ; that a federal 
law whose unconstitutionality was doubted could be 
put to a test in the courts at any time ; that a measure 
so tested, and adjudged constitutional, must be obeyed 
implicitly so long as it should remain upon the statute 
books ; and that the proper recourse of its opponents 
was not " nullification " but rather the inducing of the 
immediate repeal of the measure, or the accomplish- 
ment of the same end more slowly by returning to 
Cougress a sufficient number of members of like mind 
with themselves, or even by bringing about an amend- 
ment of the Constitution. 

The issue hinged squarely, of course, upon the char- 
acter of the union established under the Constitution, 
and inevitably Webster was led to declare himself at 
length upon this subject. The national government 
was asserted unequivocally to be the creature, not of 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 217 

the states, but of the people, who alone can "control 
it, restrain it, modify, or reform it." Against Hayne's 
objection that " the people of the United States" 
meant only the people of the several states, it was 
maintained that it was by all the people of the United 
States, in a collective capacity, that the Constitution 
was ordained and established. " It is, sir, the people's 
Constitution, the people's government, made for the 
people, made by the people, and answerable to the 
people. The people of the United States have de- 
clared that this Constitution shall be the supreme 
law. We must either admit the proposition, or dis- 
pute their authority. The states are, unquestionably, 
sovereign, so far as their sovereignty is not affected by 
this supreme law. But the state legislatures, as polit- 
ical bodies, however sovereign, are yet not sovereign 
over the people. So far as the people have given 
power to the general government, so far the grant is 
unquestionably good, and the government holds of the 
people, and not of the state governments. We are all 
agents of the same supreme power, the people.' ' l 
From all this it followed that when the sovereign 
people should become dissatisfied with the distribution 
of powers which had been effected they could alter 
it, through the process of constitutional amendment. 
"But until they shall alter it," it was urged, "it must 
stand as their will, and is equally binding on the 
general government and on the states." 

Webster's arguments were drawn, however, not 
only from constitutional theory but also from con- 
siderations of political practicability. Using for pur- 
pose of illustration the tariff law of 1828, he exposed 

l4< Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, p. 321; "Writings aud 
Speeches," Vol. VI, p. 54. 



218 DANIEL WEBSTER 

with startling clearness the practical difficulties to 
which the nullificationist doctrine, if put into opera- 
tion, would lead. ' * The tariff [so Hayne had de- 
clared] is a usurpation ; it is a dangerous usurpation ; 
it is a palpable usurpation ; it is a deliberate usurpa- 
tion. It is such a usurpation, therefore, as calls upon 
the states to exercise their right of interference. . . . 
Let us suppose the state of South Carolina to express 
this same opinion, by the voice of her legislature. 
That would be very imposing ; but what then ? Is the 
voice of one state conclusive ? It so happens that, at 
the very moment when the state of South Carolina 
resolves that the tariff laws are unconstitutional, 
Pennsylvania and Kentucky resolve exactly the 
reverse. They hold those laws to be both highly 
proper and strictly constitutional. And now, sir, how 
does the honorable member propose to deal with this 
case? How does he relieve us from this difficulty, 
upon any principle of his? His construction gets us 
into it ; how does he propose to get us out f In Caro- 
lina, the tariff is a palpable, deliberate usurpation ; 
Carolina, therefore, may nullify it, and refuse to pa}^ 
the duties. In Pennsylvania, it is both clearly con- 
stitutional and highly expedient ; and there the duties 
are to be paid. And yet we live under a government 
of uniform laws, and under a Constitution, too, which 
contains an express provision, as it happens, that all 
duties shall be equal in all the states. Does not this 
approach absurdity ? If there be no power to settle 
such questions, independent of either of the states, is 
not the whole Union a rope of sand ? Are we not 
thrown back, again, precisely upon the old Confedera- 
tion f It is too plain to be argued. Four- and- twenty 
interpreters of constitutional law, each with a power to 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 219 

decide for itself, and none with authority to bind any- 
body else, and this constitutional law the only bond of 
their union ! " 1 

Far from having left to the states the determination 
of the constitutional questions which should inevitably 
arise, the people, Webster maintained, had created the 
Constitution with the express purpose of establishing a 
government that should not be obliged to act through 
state agency or to depend on state opinion and state 
discretion. " Sir, the people have wisely provided in 
the Constitution itself, a proper and suitable mode and 
tribunal for settling questions of constitutional law. 
There are in the Constitution grants of powers to Con- 
gress, and restrictions on these powers. There are, 
also, prohibitions on the states. Some authority must, 
therefore, necessarily exist, having the ultimate juris- 
diction to fix and ascertain the interpretation of these 
grants, restrictions, and prohibitions. The Constitu- 
tion has itself pointed out, ordained, and established 
that authority. How has it accomplished this great 
and essential end % By declaring, sir, that ' the Con- 
stitution, and the laws of the United States made in 
pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the 
land, anythiDg in the constitution or laws of any state 
to the contrary notwithstanding. > This, sir, was the 
first great step. By this the supremacy of the Consti- 
tution and laws of the United States is declared. The 
people so will it. No state law is to be void which 
comes in conflict with the Constitution, or any law of 
the United States passed in pursuance of it. But who 
shall decide this question of interference ! To whom 
lies the last appeal ? This, sir, the Constitution itself 

1 " Works of Daniel Webster," Vol. I, pp. 323-324 ; " Writings 
aud Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 56-57. 



220 DANIEL WEBSTER 

decides also, by declaring, 'that the judicial power 
shall extend to all cases arising under the Constitution 
and laws of the United States. ' These two provisions 
cover the whole ground. They are, in truth, the key- 
stone of the arch ! With these it is a government ; 
without them it is a confederation." 

In a peroration of unsurpassed eloquence Webster 
advanced to the objective point of the entire effort, 
namely, a plea for the maintenance inviolate, and for 
all time, of the Union. " Mr. President," he said, " I 
have thus stated the reasons of my dissent to the doc- 
trines which have been advanced and maintained. I 
am conscious of having detained you and the Senate 
much too long. I was drawn into the debate with no 
previous deliberation, such as is suited to the discus- 
sion of so grave and important a subject. But it is a 
subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been 
willing to suppress the utterance of its spontaneous 
sentiments. I cannot, even now, persuade myself to 
relinquish it, without expressing once more my deep 
conviction that, since it respects nothing less than the 
Union of the States, it is of most vital and essential 
importance to the public happiness. I profess, sir, in 
my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the 
prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the 
preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union 
we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and 
dignity abroad. It is to that Union that we are 
chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud 
of our country. That Union we reached only by the 
discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adver- 
sity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered 
finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. 
Under its benign influences, these great interests im- 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 221 

mediately awoke, as from the dead, and sprang forth 
with newness of life. Every year of its duration has 
teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its bless- 
ings ; and although our territory has stretched out 
wider and wider, and our population spread farther 
and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its 
benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain of 
national, social, and personal happiness. 

" I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the 
Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess 
behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of pre- 
serving liberty when the bonds that unite us together 
shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed my- 
self to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see 
whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth 
of the abyss below ; nor could I regard him as a safe 
couuselor in the affairs of this government, whose 
thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not 
how the Union may be best preserved, but how toler- 
able might be the condition of the people when it 
should be broken up and destroyed. While the Union 
lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects 
spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond 
that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that 
in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise ! God 
grant that on my vision never may be opened what 
lies behind ! When my eyes shall be turned to be- 
hold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see 
him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments 
of a once glorious Union ; on states dissevered, dis- 
cordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, 
or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood ! Let their 
last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gor- 
geous ensign of the republic, now known and honored 



222 DANIEL WEBSTER 

throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms 
aud trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a 
stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, 
bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory 
as ' What is all this worth ? ' nor those other words of 
delusion and folly, ' Liberty first and Union after- 
ward ' ; but everywhere, spread all over in characters 
of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they 
float over the sea and over the land, and in every 
wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, 
dear to every true American heart — 'Liberty and 
Union, now aud forever, one and inseparable ! ' " l 

Webster's speech occupied some three hours on the 
26th and was concluded, in the space of approxi- 
mately an hour, upon the following day. To it Hayne 
made reply immediately and at some length, maintain- 
iug still that each state is "an independent sover- 
eignty," that the union is built upon a compact, and 
that every party to the compact is a rightful judge of 
violations of the fundamental agreement by which all 
are bound together. The argument was closer and 
more forcible than that made from this point of view 
during the earlier portion of the debate, but in a brief 
series of concluding remarks Webster effectually de- 
molished most of the assumptions upon which it was 
based. 2 The discussion of Foote's resolution was con- 
tinued iutermittently through upward of four months. 
More than half of the members of the Senate partici- 
pated in it ; but long before May 21st, when, in accord- 
ance with a motion of Webster, the proposal was laid 
upon the table, the country had ceased to have an in- 

1 "Works of Daniel Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 341-342 ; " Writings 
and Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 74-75. 



3 << 



Writings and Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 76-80. 



IN THE SENATE : THE HAYNE DEBATE 223 

terest in it. Save for the debate to which the consid- 
eration of it led, the resolution would hardly be men- 
tioned in books to-day. 

That debate, however, was easily the ablest and the 
most momentous since the adoption of the Constitution. 
It served to set before the country with exactness 
hitherto unattained the position occupied by the two 
great schools of political thought which were battling 
for the popular support. The contest, of course, was 
not at all decisive. Large numbers of men whose 
views had been hazy were led unquestionably to the 
adoption of the strictly nationalist interpretation of 
the Constitution for which Webster argued ; but, sim- 
ilarly, other men of ill-defined opinions were won over 
by the arguments of Hayne. And probably very few 
people whose ideas upon the subject discussed were al- 
ready clear were affected, other than by being con- 
firmed in their opinions. But the effect was at least 
to clarify the political thinking of the people of all 
sections of the country. At some points Webster was 
uudeuiably upon the surer ground, at other points 
Hayne. The facts of history were in no small degree 
favorable to Hayne's contention, and although Web- 
ster felt obliged to recur to argument from the intent 
of the framers of the Constitution and the ideas gener- 
ally prevailing in 1787-1789, he was in these matters 
least convincing. Upon conditions and questions of 
an economic nature, notably the operation of the tariff, 
he likewise was at a disadvantage, and he strove in so 
far as possible to keep clear of this ground. The 
South had a real economic grievance, and Webster was 
well enough aware that it could not be argued out of 
existence. 

On the other hand, in his contentions based upon 






224 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the impracticability of nullification as a working prin- 
ciple of government he had a tremendous advantage 
and one which he did not fail to use to the utmost. 
The most unanswerable portion of his argument was 
that wherein he demonstrated that nullification, in 
practice, could of necessity mean nothing but chaos. 
Finally, it is to be observed that the logic of the larger 
phases of the situation lay with the New Englauder. 
If the Union for which he made his plea was not 
the Union which the fathers intended to establish, 
or that which actually existed in the days of Wash- 
ington and John Adams, it was at any rate the 
Union in which, by the close of the fourth decade un- 
der the Constitution, the majority of the people of the 
United States had come to believe. It was the Union 
of Henry Clay, of Andrew Jackson, of Abraham 
Lincoln. And the largest significance of Webster's 
arguments in 1830 arises from the definiteness and 
force with which he invested popular convictions 
which as yet were vagne and ill -expressed — convic- 
tions which " went on broadening and deepening until, 
thirty years afterward, they had a force sufficient to 
sustain the North and enable her to triumph in the 
terrible struggle which resulted in the preservation of 
national life." ! In the judgment of an able student of 
the subject, it was the Second Eeply, more than any 
other single event from the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion to the Civil War, which " compacted the states 
into a nation.'' 2 

1 Lodge, " Webster," p. 179. »MoCall, " Webster," p. 63. 






CHAPTEE IX 

THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON : NULLIFICATION 

The "Great Debate" commanded the attention of 
the country as had few events since 1789. The more 
important portions of the various speeches, especially 
Webster's Second Beply, were reproduced in the 
newspapers, and large numbers of copies were cir- 
culated in various pamphlet editions. Few people who 
were able or disposed in any measure to follow public 
affairs failed to read more or less of what had been said, 
and the more inspiring j>assages began to be declaimed, 
as they are to this day, by schoolboys in thousands of 
communities. In the political literature of the coun- 
try the Second Eeply took its place at once very near 
the top. Webster was the recipient of scores of letters 
of congratulation, some from intimate friends, some 
from less-known admirers, some from total strangers, 
some even from political opponents. " The glorious 
effect of your patriotic, able, and eloquent defense of 
New England," wrote H. A. Dearborn, " and the 
triumphant support you have given to the funda- 
mental principles of the Constitution are not confined 
to the capital of the Union. The aroma comes to 
gladden our hearts, like the spicy gales of Arabia to 
the distant mariner. Never have I heard such 
universal and ardent expressions of joy and approba- 
tion." 1 " If anything,' ' wrote Governor Lincoln of 
Massachusetts, " can rouse the people of the United 

1 H. A. Dearborn to Webster, February 5, 1830. Van Tyne, 
"Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 147. 



226 DANIEL WEBSTER 

States to a sense of their danger, and a timely protec- 
tion of themselves and their free institntious, it must 
be the appeals to their intelligence and virtue which 
have been addressed to them from the Senate- 
chamber." 1 "I return my thanks," wrote Madison, 
" for the copy of your late very powerful speech in the 
Senate of the United States. It crushes ' nullification,' 
and must hasten an abandonment of secession." 2 " I 
congratulate you," wrote Clay, " on the very great ad- 
dition which you have made during the present session 
to your previous high reputation. Your speeches, and 
particularly that in reply to Mr. Hayne, are the theme 
of praise from every tongue ; and I have shared in the 
delight which all have felt. I trust that they will do 
much good." 3 Certain men, notably Clay and Jack- 
sou, might continue to enjoy a measure of popularity 
with the masses which Webster could never attain ; but 
after 1830 no public personage in the country com- 
manded quite such a measure of admiration for his 
patriotic fervor and his statesmanlike abilities. 

The sittings of Congress during the spring of 1830 
Webster found, as in truth they were, largely lacking in 
interest. There was discussion of the tariff, of Indian 
affairs, and of the bank, but no important legislation. 
The one somewhat startling development was Jackson's 
veto, May 27th, of a bill authorizing a subscription of 
stock by the United States in the Maysville, Washing- 
ton, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Eoad Company. 
The veto, which evinced unmistakably the President's 

Lincoln to Webster, March 17, 1830. Cnrtis, "Webster," 
Vol. I, p. 371. 

2 Madison to Webster, March 15, 1830. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. I, p. 496. 

3 Clay to Webster, April 29, 1830. Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, 
p. 374. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 227 

opposition to national outlays upon internal improve- 
ments, furnished occasion for an acrimonious debate in 
the House ; but in the Senate it was received with 
equanimity. " I never felt more completely weary of 
a session," Webster confided to a friend ; " if it do not 
terminate soon, I shall run away and leave it." * From 
various quarters of the country the thanks and con- 
gratulations of old aud new admirers continued to pour 
in. At Boston a public dinner was proposed, al- 
though on the ground that numerous Massachusetts 
representatives in Cougress had rendered service so 
conspicuous that to celebrate the home-comiug of one 
of the number would be invidious, the honor was de- 
clined. 2 An enterprising publisher brought out a 
volume of the senator's speeches — a book upon which 
Webster passed the comment that it was " well enough 
except the awful face, which seems to be placed in the 
front of the volume, like a scarecrow in a corn-field, to 
frighten off all intruders." 3 From a substantial 
citizen of Boston came a service of plate as a testimony 
of " gratitude for your services to the country, in your 
late efforts in the Senate, especially for your vindica- 
tion of the character of Massachusetts and of New Eng- 
land." 4 It was also at this time that, at the sugges- 
tion of friends, Webster began the composition of an 
autobiography. The task, however, was soon discon- 
tinued, and the resulting sketch, meagre at best, 
stopped short with the happenings of 1816. As the 

1 Webster to Button, May 9, 1830. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. I, p. 502. 

2 Webster to William Sullivan, May 22, 1830. Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 
502-503. 

3 Webster to C. B. Haddock, February 6, 1831. J bid, Vol. I. 
p. 508. 

4 Amos Lawrence to Webster. October 23, 1830. Ibid., Vol. I, 
p. 507. 



228 DANIEL WEBSTER 

pages were written they were placed in the possession 
of George Tick nor, by whom they were preserved. 

During the late summer and autumn of 1830 Web- 
ster participated in a notable prosecution arising from 
the murder, in the preceding April, of Joseph White, 
an aged and wealthy resident of Salem, Massachusetts. 
He was engaged to assist the Attorney -General and the 
Solicitor-General, and largely through the legal 
acumen which he displayed two persons of the name 
of Knapp were convicted and sent to the gallows. By 
the attorneys for the defense it was charged that Web- 
ster, in violation of statute, was receiving compensa- 
tion from a private source ; but the court did not sus- 
tain the objection. The Knapp trials demonstrated, 
among other things, that Webster's skill as an orator 
before legislative bodies had not been developed at the 
expense of his power to argue after the fashion de- 
manded by courts of law. 1 

Scarcely was Jackson well established in the presi- 
dential office before the political leaders began to plan 
toward the election of 1832. The contest of 1828 had 
hinged primarily upon the personal issue of the vindi- 
cation of the people's choice in 1824, and throughout 
the era of Jacksonian politics the element of personal 
leadership and personal loyalty never ceased to be of 
prime importance. During the years of Jackson's 
presidency, however, the crystallization of political 
parties which had set in after the election of 1824 
proceeded with rapidity, and from the political devel- 
opments of this period sprang the two great parties — 
Democrat and Whig — which throughout the remain- 

1 Webster's argument in the Knapp case is printed in "Works 
of Webster," Vol. VI, pp. 41-105, and " Writings and Speeches," 
Vol. XI, pp. 41-105. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 229 

iiig two decades covered by Webster's lifetime divided 
between them the support of the mass of the nation. 
The composition of the Democratic party was deter- 
mined upon lines that were simple and obvious. The 
Democrats originally were merely the adherents of 
Jackson. Their basal principles were the rule of the 
people and a moderately strict construction of the 
Constitution. In 1828 the first of these meant specifi- 
cally the election of Jackson ; the second, the cessation 
of internal improvements at the national cost and a 
serious questioning of the validity of protective tariffs 
and of the maintenance of a national bank. After the 
accession of the party to power in 1829 both were 
given broader and varied applications as public devel- 
opments afforded occasion. 

The elements which stood outside of, and in oppo- 
sition to, the Democratic party were heterogeneous 
and loosely organized. The principal tie by which 
they were held in some sort of affiliation was a com- 
mon opposition to Jackson and Jacksonianism, and 
even after, in 1834, the several anti-administration 
groups became outwardly amalgamated under the 
general designation of the Whig party, the interests 
which they possessed in common consisted always 
more largely of political antipathies than of construct- 
ive policies. In 1828, and during the ensuing three 
or four years, the most important an ti -Jackson group 
was the National Republicans, including, in the main, 
the "Adams men" of the period 1824-1828. The 
principles of this group were not very clearly defined, 
but in general they were based upon a liberal con- 
struction of the Constitution, and they included the 
advocacy of internal improvements, of protectionism, 
and the maintenance of the national bank, and depre- 



230 DANIEL WEBSTER 

cation of the elevation of a military hero to the presi- 
dency. Chief among the prominent members of the 
group in popularity and in capacity for leadership was 
Henry Clay. 

In successive messages to Congress Jackson recom- 
mended the adoption of a constitutional amendment 
limiting the eligibility of the president to a single 
term of four or six years. The suggestion elicited, 
however, no response, and when the President's 
friends, principally the members of his " kitchen 
cabinet,' 7 set about the effecting of arrangements for 
his reelection in 1832 he did not feel called upon to 
discourage them. During several years Calhoun had 
been considered, and certainly had considered him- 
self, Jackson's probable successor. In 1824, and again 
in 1828, when Calhoun was persuaded to content him- 
self with the vice -presidency it was commonly sup- 
posed that a single term would suffice for Jackson and 
that for the South Carolinian the step from the second 
position to the first would be easy and certain. The 
Vice-President at no time, however, enjoyed the un- 
divided support of his party, and between him and 
Jackson there arose a breach which of itself was suf- 
ficient completely to alter the tacitly accepted pro- 
gramme. During the spring of 1830 Jackson was 
made aware that when, in 1818, he stood in danger of 
official censure in consequence of his arbitrary manage- 
ment of the Florida expedition, it was Calhoun, then 
secretary of war, not Adams, the secretary of state, 
who had urged in the cabinet that some penalty be 
imposed. Calhoun, called suddenly to account, offered 
u labored explanation, but Jackson refused to accept 
it, and a bitterness was engendered which time but 
partially assuaged. As matters stood, without the 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 231 

favor of Jackson no Democrat might hope to attain 
the presidency ; and not only did Jackson now acquiesce 
in the plan of his friends for a second term for himself ; 
he commenced systematically to groom Martin Van 
Buren for the succession in 1836. Calhoun's chances, 
wrecked at least temporarily by the withdrawal of the 
President's favor, were annihilated for all time two 
years later in consequence of the collapse of nulliiica- 
tion. It is of interest that as early as February, 1830, 
Webster expressed himself as " quite sure" that it 
was the intention of Jackson to be a candidate for a 
second term. 1 

Among the National Eepublicans there was an al- 
most universal disposition to support the candidacy of 
Clay. From 1829 to 1831 Clay was in private life, but 
his popularity continued unimpaired, and from one 
state after another came demand that he be agreed 
upon as the party's standard-bearer. "As to future 
operations," wrote Webster from Washington in March, 
1830, "the general idea here seems to be this: to bring 
forward no candidate this year, though doubtless the 
general impression is that Mr. Clay stands first and 
foremost in the ranks of those who would desire a 
change. I do not think there is the least abatement 
of the respect and confidence entertained for him." 2 
From various quarters came the suggestion that Web- 
ster should himself be a candidate. The proposition 
was contemplated with interest, and there can be no 
question that, had circumstances shaped themselves 
favorably, the Massachusetts senator would have been 
willing to accept the leadership of his party against 

1 Webster to Jeremiah Mason, February 27, 1830. Webster, 
"Private Correspondence," Vol. I, p. 488. 

2 Webster to Pleasants, March 0, 1830. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 492. 



232 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Jackson in 1832. It must be observed, however, that 
he was ready to admit the superior claims of Clay, and 
that at no time, so long as the candidacy of the Ken- 
tuckian seemed to contain the largest promise of party 
success, did he withhold from Clay his cordial support. 
The temptation to enter the lists immediately was 
enhanced by the peculiarly disturbed political situa- 
tion arisiug from the Antimasonic movement. Anti- 
masonry acquired its principal strength in those 
portions of the country which were the strongholds 
of National Republicanism, *. e., New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, and southern New England, and by the National 
Republican leaders the spread of the movement was 
viewed with unfeigned apprehension. Webster's let- 
ters during the years 1830 and 1831 abound in allu- 
sions to the uncertainties injected into the political 
situation by the new propaganda. It was hoped that 
the Antimasons might be influenced to combine with 
the National Republicans in the support of Clay. But 
Clay was a Mason, and the Antimasonic leaders let it 
be understood that he could never be accorded their 
support ; that, indeed, on the contrary, they proposed 
to hold a national convention at Baltimore to frame a 
platform and to nominate candidates of their own. 

In this juncture many persons bent upon compassing 
the overthrow of Jackson besought Webster to an- 
nounce himself a candidate. Webster was not a Mason, 
and the thought of those who approached him upon the 
subject was that National Republicans and Antimasons 
might well unite in the support of him as they were 
certain not to be able to do in the support of Clay. It 
was represented, as Webster himself believed, that if 
the Antimasonic movement should make further in- 
roads upon the National Republican ranks the election 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 233 

of Clay would be rendered totally impossible and his 
candidacy useless. To the appeals which poured in 
upon him, however, Webster turned a deaf ear. He 
recognized that Clay had been, and still was, the leader 
of the party ; that large numbers of his adherents were 
so attached to him that they were certain to be offended 
by the displacement of their favorite by any other can- 
didate j and that Clay himself expected the support of 
his party and confidently believed that he could be 
elected. Moreover, with the Antimasonic movement 
Webster had little sympathy. He regarded secret 
orders as of doubtful utility, but he deprecated the dis- 
placement of fundamental political issues by issues 
which were both ephemeral and essentially non-polit- 
ical. The upshot was that he not only refrained from 
taking the step which his friends advised but made it 
clear that, for the time, at least, his support would be 
thrown to Clay. Firmly lodged in his mind was the 
purpose one day to be an active candidate ; but every 
consideration of prudence and of honor dictated post- 
ponement of that day. From Joseph Gales, senior ed- 
itor of the National Intelligencer, came sentiments which, 
reechoed in communications received from other 
friends, rendered easier the decision. " Of all men (I 
can say in writing what I would not to your face) I 
should prefer you to any other for the presidency. I 
hope in God the time will come which will give to that 
station 'one Eoman more.' At present Mr. Clay is so 
prominently before the public, and so identified with 
Western feeling (as you will find him), and, through 
you and other friends, so acceptable to the East, and 
so qualified by experience, and so allied, and as it 
were, endeared by late associations, that we must go 
for him if we go alone. I, for one, cannot bear the idea 



234 DANIEL WEBSTER 

of auy other being thought of by those who approve 
his politics. " * 

The numerous and urgent personal and social invi- 
tations with which Webster was deluged during the 
winter of 1830-1831 testified both to the breadth of his 
fame and the respect which his countrymen entertained 
for him. The most important of the functions which 
he consented to attend was a public dinner given in his 
honor March 10, 1831, at the City Hotel in New York. 
The dinner was intended primarily to afford the citi- 
zens of the metropolis an opportunity to express their 
appreciation of the services rendered the country by 
the Massachusetts senator in the debate with Hayne 
during the previous year. Chancellor Kent, who pre- 
sided, voiced the sentiment of the gathering in a tem- 
perate but eloquent appreciation, and Webster himself 
spoke an hour and a half upon lines suggested espe- 
cially by the current issue of nullification in South 
Carolina. Carefully eschewing party politics and 
avoiding even the appearance of an attack upon the 
Administration, he paid eloquent tribute to the framers 
of the Constitution, portrayed the progress achieved by 
the various portions of the country under the operation 
of the instrument, laid emphasis upon the vagaries and 
the dangers of nullification, and admonished the nation 
that doctrines subversive of the Union, although in 
disrepute, were still to be guarded against with cease- 
less vigilance. In appropriateness to the occasion and 
loftiness of sentiment the effort has hardly been sur- 
passed in the history of American after-dinner oratory. 2 
A visit to the West which had long been in contempla- 

1 Joseph Gales to Webster, March 27, 1831. Curtis, "Webster," 
Vol. I, p. 398. 

2 The speech is printed in "Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 195- 
215, and in "Writings and Speeches," Vol. II, pp. 45-65. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 235 

tion was at this time definitely deferred. Invitations 
from Western men and organizations were flattering, and 
Webster greatly desired to see the newer portions of 
the country ; but a Western trip at this juncture was 
decided to be politically inexpedient. It was too likely 
to be construed unfavorably by the friends of Clay. 

As the year 1831 advanced preparations for the cam- 
paign of 1832 were pushed with vigor, especially by 
the Anti- Jacksonians. On September 26th there as- 
sembled at Baltimore a national nominating conven- 
tion of the Antimasonic party, called under authority 
of a gathering of Antimasons at Philadelphia a twelve- 
month previously. Prior to the Baltimore meeting the 
leaders of the Antimasonic movement avowed an in- 
tention to place in the field a candidate who should be 
able to muster the strength of all opponents of the Ad- 
ministration. There was no such person ; but in any 
case the performance fell further short of the promise 
than was necessary. Clay might as well have been 
named ; for the nominee of the convention was William 
Wirt, who, like Clay, was a Mason, and who, in his 
speech of acceptance, felt obliged to confess that he 
had never seen any harm in the order. But Clay was 
deliberately passed over, and the chances of a National 
Eepublican victory were correspondingly diminished. 
Webster was among those who urged most forcefully 
that the issue of Antimasonry was too petty to be 
made the foundation of a political party and that the 
National Eepublicans ought not to go out of their way 
for the sake of arriving at harmony with the disaffected 
elements. Yet there is testimony that, following the 
Antimasonic convention, he was not without hope that 
the nomination of his party might be diverted to him- 
self. He was convinced that the nomination of Clay 



236 DANIEL WEBSTER 

would mean inevitably the reelection of Jackson, be- 
cause under no circumstances might the Antimasons 
be expected to give Clay their support ; but with him- 
self, a non-Mason, as a candidate, he believed the chance 
of party unification and victory would be at least fair. 
The members of the party, however, regarded Clay as 
t heir natural leader, and even Webster's more intimate 
friends were obliged to persuade him afresh that his 
hour had not yet come. 

At the convention of the National Republicans, as- 
sembled at Baltimore December 12, 1831, Clay was 
nominated unanimously, and with him, for vice-presi- 
dent, John Sergeant of Pennsylvania. On recom- 
mendation of this convention a national assemblage of 
young men met in Washington in May, 1832, and, 
after accepting the nominations that had been made, 
drew up and adopted the first party platform ever pro- 
mulgated by an American national convention. To 
Judge Spencer, of New York, Webster wrote pessimis- 
tically as follows, a month prior to Clay's nomination : 
"I believe Mr. Wirt's nomination has secured Gen- 
eral Jackson's reelection ! I believe he cannot take a 
vote from General Jackson, but may take a few from 
Mr. Clay, that is, the Vermont votes ; but a greater 
evil resulting from his nomination is that it greatly 
discouraged those who were desirous of producing a 
change in the General Administration, and greatly en- 
couraged the friends of the present president. I hope, 
indeed, for a different result, but I do not expect it. 
It is true, the events of the session may produce new 
aspects of things and I am willing to anticipate the 
best. " l In the decision that Clay must be the nominee 

1 Webster to Ambrose Spencer, November 16, 1831. Van Tyne, 
•• Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 168. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 237 

Webster acquiesced, at the last, good-naturedly. 
Passing through Baltimore on his way to Washington 
at the time when the convention was sitting, he watched 
the proceedings throughout a day with interest ; and 
after the body had completed its task and many of the 
members had repaired to the capital, Webster and a 
Massachusetts congressman, Nathan Appleton, invited 
a distinguished company to meet the nominee at 
dinner. 

The conjecture that by the " events of the session " 
some new aspects of things might be produced proved 
well-founded. The session, extending from December, 
1831, to July, 1832, was, indeed, one of rare impor- 
tance. Its developments precipitated relentless and 
deadly war between Andrew Jackson and the anti- 
administration forces ; and, although they did not 
endanger the reelection of the President, they con- 
tributed enormously to the welding of the discordant 
elements of the opposition into a substantial organiza- 
tion — the Whig party of later years — destined one day 
to bring the Jacksonian democracy to overwhelming 
defeat. Several important subjects came up for con- 
sideration, but the history of the session centres largely 
about the contest upon the proposed rechartering of the 
United States Bank. 

The second bank of the United States was chartered 
for a period of twenty years by an act of April 10, 
1816. In its earlier days the institution was unsuccess- 
ful, but under the presidency of Laugdon Cheves 
(1819-1823) it got upon its feet and became a powerful 
and prosperous financial organization. The efforts of 
certain states to tax out of existence the branches 
which were established within their borders were cir- 
cumvented, and in the great case of McCulloch vs. 



238 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Maryland the constitutionality of the establishment of 
both the Bank and its branches was upheld at every 
point by the highest tribunal of the land. For a 
variety of reasons, however, the Bank continued to be 
unpopular, especially in the South and West. At his 
accession to the presidency Jackson was not clearly on 
record in respect to the Bank, although there had been 
some indication that his attitude was not favorable. 
In the inaugural address the subject was passed with- 
out mention. In the first message to Congress, how- 
ever, both the constitutionality and the expediency of 
the Bank were called in question, and in the message 
of December 7, 1830, there was recommended the estab- 
lishment of a central fiscal institution of a wholly dif- 
ferent type. In the message of December 6, 1831, the 
subject was committed to u the investigation of an en- 
lightened people and their representatives." Late in 
1831 the unfriendly position which the President had 
assumed brought the authorities of the Bank, princi- 
pally the president, Nicholas Biddle, to a decision to 
procure with the least possible delay a charter pro- 
longing the life of the institution. Application for a 
new charter was presented to Congress January 9, 
1832, and March 13th a bill framed in accordance with 
the application was reported from a select committee 
in the Senate by Dallas of Pennsylvania. 

The Bank Bill was taken up in the Senate May 22d 
and was debated in detail until June 11th, when it was 
passed by a vote of twenty-eight to twenty. In the 
House of Representatives a bill on the subject, reported 
February 10th, was displaced by the Senate bill, which 
was adopted, July 3d, by a vote of 107 to 86. The 
handling of the measure in the upper chamber was 
managed principally by Webster. Although not one 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 23d 

of those who urged the pressing of the issue at so early 
a date, Webster believed that, since the future of the 
Bank had been brought in question, action ought to be 
taken which should render the perpetuity of the in- 
stitution certain. On May 25th he spoke at some 
length in advocacy of the bill, dwelling rather more 
upon the aspect of expediency than upon that of con- 
stitutionality, because the real extent of the constitu- 
tional objections that would have to be encountered 
was as yet unknown ; and three days later he opposed 
successfully an amendment in accordance with which 
branches of the Bank, established only with the con- 
sent of the states in which they were located, should be 
subject to state taxation in like manner as other banks. 1 
The substance of Webster's contention was that the 
Bank, during its sixteen years of existence, had as- 
sisted in the maintenance of a sound and uniform cur- 
rency, had facilitated the collection and disbursement 
of the public revenue, had imparted stability to the 
rates of foreign exchanges, had promoted the interests 
of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures— in short, 
had " sought the accomplishment of the public pur- 
poses designed by its institution with distinguished 
ability and distinguished success. " 

The message with which the President accompanied 
his veto of the Bank Bill, July 10th, was a curious 
compound of fiscal and constitutional absurdities. 
The veto itself was not unexpected, and there is no 
reason to doubt that it was approved by a majority of 
the people. The Jacksonian contention that the Bauk 
wielded a dangerous monopoly and that the ownership 
of a portion of the stock of the institution abroad con- 

1 These speeches are printed in " "Works of Webster," Vol. 117 
pp. 391-415, and in " Writings and Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 124-148. 



240 DANIEL WEBSTER 

stituted a national menace struck home among a peo- 
ple accustomed at the merest mention of a " money 
power " to scent danger. The most startling aspect of 
the veto was the argument employed by Jackson to 
the effect that, although the constitutionality of the 
Bank had been affirmed by the Supreme Court, it was 
none the less within the sphere of competency of the 
chief executive to regard the creation of the institution 
as unconstitutional and to refuse to be influenced in 
his attitude or policy by the opinion of a coordinate 
branch of the government. i i The Congress, the Ex- 
ecutive, and the Court," it was declared, " must each 
for itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitu- 
tion. Each public officer who takes a public oath to 
support the Constitution swears that he will support it 
as he understands it, and not as it is understood by 
others. It is as much the duty of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, of the Senate, and of the President, to de- 
cide upon the constitutionality of any bill or resolution 
which may be presented to them for passage or ap- 
proval as it is of the Supreme Judges when it may be 
brought before them for j udicial decision. The opinion 
of the judges has no more authority over Congress 
than the opinion of Congress has over the judges ; and, 
on that point, the President is independent of both." l 
The position which Jackson thus assumed, subver- 
sive as it was of all rational principles of constitutional 
law, was essentially untenable, and the mass of his 
fellow-partisans had the good sense in after years not 
to endeavor to maintain it. To Webster it fell to ex- 
pose the fallacies involved in it, and the task was per- 
formed in a cogent speech delivered in the Senate on 

1 Richardson, 4t Messages and Papers of the Presidents," Vol. II, 
p. 582. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 241 

the day following the receipt of the veto message, 
when a second vote upon the measure was pending. 
With characteristic moderateness of tone, but with de- 
termination born of clear thinking and deep convic- 
tion, he demolished completely the President's remark- 
able doctrine. He showed that while the Executive is, 
and must be, privileged to entertain an independent 
opinion upon the constitutionality of a measure or an 
institution whose validity has not been passed upon 
by the courts, and to govern his actions accordingly, 
in the case of measures or agencies whose constitution- 
ality has been affirmed by the highest tribunal of the 
land neither the Executive nor any other department of 
the government possesses the power to proceed in ac- 
cordance with a contrary opinion. Otherwise, as was 
easy enough to demonstrate, a principal function of 
the Supreme Court would be reduced to a nullity and 
the one means of constitutional interpretation and ad- 
justment upon which the stability of the governmental 
system depends would be swept away. 

"When a law," it was declared, " has been passed 
by Congress and approved by the President, it is now 
no longer in the power, either of the same president, 
or of his successors, to say whether the law is constitu- 
tional or not. He is not at liberty to disregard it ; he 
is not at liberty to feel or to affect ' constitutional 
scruples,' and to sit in judgment himself on the valid- 
ity of a statute of the government, and to nullify it, 
if he so chooses. After a law has passed through all 
the requisite forms ; after it has received the requisite 
legislative sanction and the executive approval, the 
question of its constitutionality then becomes a judicial 
question, and a judicial question alone. In the courts 
that question may be raised, argued, and adjudged j it 



242 DANIEL WEBSTER 

am be adjudged nowhere else. . . . It is to be re- 
membered, sir, that it is the present law, it is the act of 
1816, it is the present charter of the bank, which the 
President pronounces to be unconstitutional. It is no 
bank to be created, it is no law proposed to be passed, 
which he denounces ; it is the law now existing, rjassed 
by Congress, approved by President Madison, and sanc- 
tioned by a solemn judgment of the Supreme Court, 
which he now declares unconstitutional, and which, of 
course, so far as it may depend on him, cannot be exe- 
cuted. If these opinions of the President be maintained, 
there is an end of all law and all judicial authority. 
Statutes are but recommendations, judgments no more 
than opinions. Both are equally destitute of binding 
force. Such a universal power as is no w claimed for him, 
a power of judging over the laws and over the decisions 
of the judiciary, is nothing else but pure despotism." 

Of the essential soundness of this argument there can 
be no question, and it may be observed that the fun- 
damental task of Webster throughout his public career ! 
was, more than any other one thing, to enforce upon 
the American people an adequate appreciation of the 
proper function of the judiciary in the maintenance of 
the constitutional system. This had been the essential 
contribution of the debate with Hayne, and the mes- ! 
sage was reiterated with convincing effect in the speech 
on the Bank veto. The attempt which was made to i 
carry the Bank Bill over the veto failed, and the Bank 
prepared to wind up its affairs. But in consequence 
of the controversy the unification of the coming Whig 
party was promoted and the breach between Jackson 
and the opposition was further widened. 1 

^or the speech of July 11th see " Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, 
pp. 416-447, and " Writings and Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 149-180. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 243 

The speech on the President's veto of the Bank Bill 
was Webster's most notable effort during the session. 
Other subjects, however, received at this time his close 
attention. One was the action of the Senate on the 
nomination of Van Buren as minister to Great Britain. 
In April, 1831, Van Buren, now popularly regarded as 
a candidate for the vice-presidency, aud, prospectively, 
for the presidency itself, resigned the secretaryship of 
state, and shortly thereafter he was appointed minister 
to the court of St. James. He went abroad and was 
received by the government to which he was accredited. 
When, however, his nomination came up for endorse- 
ment by the Senate, a large number of members de- 
murred, and, in the end, confirmation of the appoint- 
ment was refused, on the ground principally that in 
1829 Van Buren, in the capacity of secretary of state, 
had communicated to McLane, then going to London 
as American minister, instructions which cast reflec- 
tions upon the administration of John Quincy Adams. 
In the course of a series of remarks made in secret ses- 
sion, January 24 and 26, 1832, Webster explained 
forcefully his reasons for voting to reject the Presi- 
dent's nomination. 1 The essential reason was that, in 
his judgment, Van Buren had been sent abroad as 
"the representative of his party and not as the repre- 
sentative of his country." The subject was admitted 
to be a delicate one and in speaking upon it Webster 
avowed that he had performed the most unpleasant 
act of his public life — an act, however, which, involv- 
ing a solemn public duty, might not be shunned. 
There can be little question that Webster was im- 
pelled by an honest belief that, under the circum- 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 356-368; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 89-101. 



244 DANIEL WEBSTER 

stances, Van Buren was not a worthy representative 
of the nation, but it is certain enough that many of 
those who voted for the recall of the former secretary 
were actuated by motives which were frankly partisan. 
The vote was so arranged that there was a tie (twenty- 
three to twenty-three), to the end that Vice-President 
Calhoun might have the satisfaction, by employment 
of the casting vote, of compassing the humiliation of 
the rival by whom he had been displaced. "It will 
kill him, sir/' declared the South Carolinian to a friend, 
" kill him dead. He will never kick, sir, never kick." 
In point of fact, the consequence was far otherwise. No 
other single circumstance contributed so heavily to es- 
tablish Van Buren in the favor of the Jackson party 
and to smooth for him the road to the presidency. 

The activities of Webster during the session in- 
cluded a careful study of the questions involved in the 
apportionment of representatives in the lower branch 
of Congress. To effect the reapportionment which was 
due on the basis of the results of the fifth census, a 
bill was introduced in the House of Representatives 
providing that representatives should be allotted to the 
several states in the ratio of one for every 47,700 in- 
habitants. As upon earlier occasions of the kind, no 
provision was made for the representation of fractional 
remainders, and considerable numbers of people in the 
aggregate would find themselves, if not strictly unrep- 
resented, at least devoid of proportionate power in the 
national legislative body. On March 27, 1832, the 
House bill was referred in the Senate to a select com- 
mittee, and on April 5th Webster presented, in the 
name of this committee, a carefully considered report in 
which it was urged that the proposed measure should 
be so amended as to make provision for the representa- 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 245 

tiou of major fractious. 1 "Let the rule be," it was 
advocated, " that the whole number of the proposed 
House shall be apportioned among the several states 
according to their respective numbers, giving to each 
state that number of members which comes nearest to 
her exact mathematical part or proportion." Not- 
withstanding the cogency of the arguments which were 
employed in behalf of this procedure, Congress could 
not be brought upon this occasion, nor indeed upon 
that of the next decennial apportionment, to apply the 
reasonable and obvious remedy. By act of May 23, 
1850, however, the principles urged by Webster's com- 
mittee were enacted into law, and they have since been 
adhered to without variation. 

In May, 1832, a Democratic con veu tiou at Baltimore 
" cordially concurred " in the nomination which Jack- 
son had already received at the hands of sundry legis- 
latures and mass- meetings and complied with the well 
understood wishes of the President by placing Van 
Bnren in nomination for the vice-presidency. No 
platform was promulgated. None was needed. The 
Administration went before the country solely upon its 
record. The election in November resulted in a 
decisive Democratic triumph. Jackson received two 
hundred and nineteen electoral votes, Clay forty-nine, 
John Floyd eleven, 2 and Wirt seven. The popular 
vote for Jackson was 687,502 ; that for Clay and Wirt 
combined was but 530,189. The real object of the 
Democratic gathering at Baltimore had been to unite 
the party in the support of Van Buren for the vice- 
presidency, and an important result of the election was 

1 For the text of this report see " Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, 
pp. 369-390, and " Writings and Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 102-123. 
* These votes were cast by the electors of South Carolina. 



246 DANIEL WEBSTER 

to place "the Little Magician" definitely in line of 
succession to the higher post. 

Meanwhile the crisis which long had been threatened 
by the tariff controversy had been precipitated. In 
his annual message of December 6, 1831, Jackson 
urged a revision of the tariff, and during the session 
which ensued a number of tariff bills were introduced, 
exhibiting, however, no appreciable cousensus of inter- 
est or of policy. In the end a tariff measure was 
enacted, that of July 14, 1832 ; but the lowering of 
rates for which it made provision did not involve, and 
was not intended to involve, any essential modification 
of the protective system. Thereafter the nullification 
party in South Carolina fast gained the ascendancy. 
The state's representatives in Congress expressed the 
solemn conviction that all hope of relief at the hands 
of Congress had disappeared and recommended that 
independent action be no longer delayed. Late in 
October the legislature was assembled, and by heavy 
majorities it passed a measure providing for a conven- 
tion, which met at Columbia November 19th. By a 
vote of 136 to 26 the convention, November 24th, 
adopted an ordinance declaring the tariff acts of 1828 
and 1832 "null, void, and no law" ; and three days 
later the legislature reassembled for the purpose of tak- 
ing such steps as should be deemed necessary to main- 
tain the position which had been assumed. The date 
fixed for the taking effect of the ordinance was Febru- 
ary 1, 1833. 

In the face of this unprecedented situation the atti- 
tude of the Administration was unhesitatingly firm. 
In a message of December 4th the President again rec- 
ommended the readjustment of the tariff, but six days 
later there was issued a proclamation to the people of 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 247 

South Carolina in which the right of nullification was 
specifically denied and the inhabitants of the disaffected 
state were admonished to retrace the revolutionary steps 
which had been taken. "I consider," affirmed the 
President, " the power to annul a law of the United 
States, assumed by one state, incompatible with the 
existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the 
letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, 
inconsistent with every principle on which it was 
founded, and destructive of the great object for which 
it was formed." a The proclamation of December 10th 
takes rank as the ablest state paper of the Jacksonian 
era. With the preparation of it the Secretary of State, 
Edward Livingston, is known to have had much to do, 
but the credit for the bold stand taken by the Admin- 
istration belongs, of course, to Jackson. The constitu- 
tional law upon which the proclamation was based was 
identical with that expounded by Webster in the great 
debate of 1830, and it was made as plain as words could 
make it that the authority of the federal government 
would be enforced by means which, if need be, would 
not stop short of the use of arms. When the South 
Carolina legislature replied to the proclamation in a 
tone that was deemed derogatory, Jackson was more 
than ever aroused, and there was no guarantee that his 
repressive measures might not include even capital 
punishment of the South Carolina leaders. And the 
chief of these leaders was Calhoun, once vice-president, 
but after his resignation of that post spokesman of the 
recalcitrant state upon the floor of the Senate. 2 

1 Richardson, " Messages and Papers of the Presidents," Vol. II. 
p. 643. 

2 Hayne was inaugurated governor of South Carolina December 
13, 1832. Two weeks later Calhoun resigned the vice-presidency 
and took Hayne's seat in the Senate. 



248 DANIEL WEBSTER 

At the dinner given in his honor in New York, in 
March, 1831, Webster had warned his hearers that, 
contrary to the assumption of some people, the menace 
of nullification was not terminated. Throughout en- 
suing months he watched the situation with growing 
anxiety. With the tariff proceedings of 1832 he had 
little to do, but he opposed every proposal which con- 
templated an abandonment of the protective principle. 
On October 12, 1832, he delivered at the state conven- 
tion of the National Republicans of Massachusetts, 
held at Worcester, a lengthy speech reviewing the 
existing situation and arraigning the Administration 
for its alleged shortcomings. The burden of the ar- 
gument was that the principles and measures of the 
Administration were " dangerous to the Constitution 
and to the union of states," in respect to removals 
from office, the use of the veto, hostility to internal 
improvements, and tolerance of the defiance which in 
the state of Georgia had been exhibited toward certain 
decisions of the Supreme Court. It was contended, 
furthermore, that the President had not shown himself 
clearly to be ready to lead the country in resistance 
to nullification and that, in the event of a crisis, the 
course which the Administration would be most likely 
to pursue would be objectionable and dangerous. The 
judgment which Webster visited upon the President in 
the last-mentioned matter was clearly premature, and 
within four months the senator was destined to find 
himself in the curious position of one fighting to up- 
hold the policies of the President against the opposi- 
tion of not a few of Jackson's accustomed supporters 
and fellow-partisans. 1 

1 The text of the Worcester speech is in ' ' Works of Webster, ' ' Vol. I 
pp. 237-278, and in "Writings and Speeches/' Vol. II, pp. 87-128. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 249 

The nullification episode stirred the feelings of 
Webster profoundly. During the autumn of 1832 
Calhoun published a fresh defense of nullification, in 
the form of a letter to Governor Hamilton — a defense 
which Webster pronounced " far the ablest and most 
plausible, and therefore the most dangerous, vindica- 
tion of that particular form of revolution which has yet 
appeared." Webster's first thought was to make a 
written reply, and, October 29th, he addressed to 
Chancellor Kent an inquiry as to whether he might be 
permitted to cast the reply in the form of an answer to 
a supposititious letter from that eminent jurist. 1 Im- 
pressed that the crisis was u indeed portentous and 
frightful," Kent extended the desired permission ; but 
when it became known that, having resigned the vice- 
presidency, Calhoun was to reappear in Congress as 
senator from South Carolina, Webster decided that 
the subject would better be threshed out in oral debate 
within the legislative chamber. 

On January 16, 1833, the President transmitted to 
Congress a message recommending the enactment of a 
measure to enable him to meet the threatened resist- 
ance to the laws of the Union. The Judiciary Com- 
mittee of the Senate, to which the message was referred, 
quickly responded by introducing a bill ' ' further to 
provide for the collection of duties on imports.' 
Upon the u Force Bill," as its opponents denominated 
it, the Administration members, however, fell into 
sharp division. To its adoption most Southerners, al- 
though adherents of Jackson, were opposed, and the 
situation became such that aid was sought openly 
among the more independent of the anti-administra- 

1 Webster to Kent, October 29, 1832. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. I, p. 526. 



250 DANIEL WEBSTER 

tion members, and first of all from Webster. Febru- 
ary 8th, at the behest of Grundy and other Jacksonian 
leaders, Webster rose in his place and delivered a 
clinching argument in behalf of the bill. He showed 
how completely it was an Administration measure and 
by the force of his logic placed in a difficult position 
those of Jackson's supporters who had been ill-dis- 
posed toward it. He declared that the bill was " in- 
dispensable " and contended that no course was open 
to the President save that which he had taken. The 
nation, it was affirmed, was demanding steps such as 
the measure contemplated. 

The rapprochement of W r ebster and Jackson fright- 
ened Calhoun, who thereupon besought Clay to bring 
in a tariff measure calculated to allay the controversy. 
In the House a bill to reduce and alter duties had been 
reported from the Ways and Means Committee, De- 
cember 27th, by Verplanck of New York, and this 
measure was pending when, February 12th, Clay in- 
troduced iu the Senate a bill designed eventually to 
reduce the tariff to a revenue basis, although without 
definitely abrogating the principle of protection. As 
early as the beginning of the session Clay had in mind 
the possibility of a compromise, and he now urged 
with all his eloquence the adoption of a scheme from 
which, it was believed, the largest practicable measure 
of satisfaction might be derived by all parties con- 
cerned. By Webster the proposition was opposed with 
vigor. February 12th he spoke briefly upon it, and 
the next day he offered a series of resolutions in which 
his own position was stated with succinctness. The 
last of these resolutions was to the effect that "no law 
ought to be passed on the subject of imposts, contain- 
ing any stipulation, express or implied, or giving any 



\y 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 251 

pledge or assurance, direct or indirect, which shall 
tend to restrain Congress from the full exercise, at all 
times hereafter, of all its constitutional powers, in 
giving reasonable protection to American industry, 
countervailing the policy of foreign nations, and 
maintaining the substantial independence of the United 
States." 1 

For the original adoption of the protective principle 
Webster, as has been explained, was in no wise re- 
sponsible. He considered, however, that, for better 
or for worse, that principle had been adopted definitely 
as early as 1824, that its maintenance had become one 
of the abiding policies of the nation, and that if it 
were to be abandoned the great mass of capital and 
business which had grown up under the shelter of the 
protective system would be placed in jeopardy. There 
was, in his judgment, no present question of the con- 
stitutionality of protectionism, and he believed that to 
offer concessions at a time when the laws of the coun- 
try were being defied would weaken the position which 
the executive authorities had assumed and would en- 
courage the prolongation and the repetition of assaults 
upon the perpetuity of the Union. He regarded it as 
especially undesirable to tie the hands of future con- 
gresses in respect to tariff legislation. It was not, 
therefore, the mere reduction of duties to which ob- 
jection was raised, but rather the proposition to obli- 
gate the government for a term of years not to exer- 
cise its proper authority within a given field, and, 
perhaps above everything else, the threatened enact- 
ment of a weakening measure in the face of, and by 
reason of, impending resistance to the exercise of a 
constitutional power. In the crisis the thing for 
1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 449. 









252 DANIEL WEBSTER 

wliich Clay stood preeminently was compromise ; that 
for which Webster stood was authority. 

Discussion of Clay's tariff bill and of the Force Bill 
proceeded simultaneously. On February 15th and 16th 
Calhoun delivered a great speech in opposition to the 
Force Bill and in advocacy of a series of resolutions 
which he had introduced January 22d affirming the 
sovereignty of the states and maintaining that, "as in 
all other cases of compact among sovereign parties, 
without any common judge, each has an equal right 
to judge for itself, as well of the infraction as of the 
mode and measure of redress. • ' The ground traversed 
was familiar, but now that a state was proposing 
actually to put to the test the doctrines propounded 
the arguments which were made acquired added 
seriousness, if not increased impressiveness. As a 
defense of nullification, it is commonly regarded 
that this speech surpassed the effort of Senator 
Hayne in 1830. It, in fact, may be regarded as the 
classic treatment of the subject, the product of the 
ripened thought and experience of the most influential, 
and perhaps the ablest, exponent of the doctrines in- 
volved. 

The effort of Calhoun prompted Webster to make the 
lengthy and weighty reply embodied in the speech 
' ' The Constitution not a Compact between Sovereign 
States ' ' of February 16th. Some days subsequently he 
wrote to a friend : " It does not seem magnanimous to 
underrate one's adversary, but, truly, between our- 
selves, I was greatly disappointed in Mr. Calhoun. 
He has little argument, — at least so it appeared to 
me." 1 None the less, Webster deemed the arguments 

1 Webster to Nathan Appleton, February, 1833. Van Tyne, 
" Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 180. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 253 

of his opponent worthy an answer which fills more 
than fifty pages of print ; and by men who were less 
established in matters of constitutional faith the magni- 
tude of the former vice-president's effort was univer- 
sally admitted. The speech which Webster delivered 
upon this occasion was less rhetorical and more closely 
argumentative than the Second Reply to Hayue in 
1830. The ground traversed in the two discourses was 
much the same, except that in the present effort more 
attention was devoted to the historical and theoretical 
aspects of the subject. It is undoubtedly true, as Mr. 
Lodge has emphasized, that the argument from history 
was the least convincing which could have been 
employed — that in attempting to demonstrate that the 
constitutional principles of 1833 were those of 1789 
the speaker was forced back upon an interpretation of 
history which was not in accordance with fact. 1 None 
the less, the judgment of Mr. Curtis may be accepted, 
that no speech, perhaps, ever made by Webster was 
" so close in its reasoning, so compact, and so power- 
ful." 2 The purport of the argument was (1) that the 
Constitution is not a compact, (2) that no state pos- 
sesses authority to dissolve the relations existing be- 
tween the government of the United States and the 
people, (3) that the final interpreter of the powers of 
the goverument is the Supreme Court, and (4) that "an 
attempt by a state to abrogate, annul, or nullify any 
act of Cougress, or to arrest its operation within her 
limits, on the ground that, in her opinion, such law is 
unconstitutional, is a direct usurpation on the just 
powers of the general government, and on the equal 
rights of the states, a plain violation of the Constitu- 



1 Lodge, " Webster," pp. 216-217. 
• Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 451. 



254 DANIEL WEBSTEB 



tion, and a proceeding essentially revolutionary in its 
character and tendency." 1 

The carrying of the Force Bill by overwhelming 
majorities in both branches of Congress rendered it 
manifest that the full power of the government was to 
be available for the execution of the laws in South 
Carolina. In the Senate the vote was thirty- two to 
one, Tyler of Virginia alone voting in the negative, 
and upward of half of the members, among them Cal- 
houn, refusing to vote at all. The vote in the House, 
March 1st, was 149 to 47. Meanwhile, February 19th, 
Clay's tariff bill was reported from committee in the 
Senate. Against the enactment of the measure Web- 
ster spoke vigorously six days later, but the tide was 
running too strongly in the direction of compromise to 
be stemmed. In the House the text of Clay's bill was 
substituted for the Yerplanck project and, February 
26th, the measure was adopted by a vote of 119 to 85. 
March 1st it was passed in the Senate, twenty-nine mem- 
bers voting for it and Webster and fifteen others voting 
against it. Thus, the Force Bill, intended to empower 
the President to execute the laws in South Carolina, 
and the Compromise Tariff Bill, intended to remove 
the conditions which had led to the attempt to evade 
these laws, were brought to the President for approval 
simultaneously ; and assent was at once accorded both 
measures. 

The enactment of the compromise tariff provided for 
all parties an easy and honorable way of escape from 
an extremely difficult situation. March 15th, by an 
overwhelming vote, the reassembled South Carolina 
convention rescinded the ordinance of nullification 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. Ill, pp. 448-505; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VI, pp. 181-238. 



THE CONTEST WITH JACKSON 255 

and the legislative acts which had been passed to give 
it effect j and although three days later an ordinance 
was voted "nullifying" the Force Bill, the episode 
was in reality at an end, with both sides claiming a 
victory. The settlement was not as Webster and many 
others would have had it, but it was probably the most 
reasonable that could have been reached under the cir- 
cumstances. That the difficulty, however, was re- 
moved for all time Webster joined with many in doubt- 
ing. "I agree with you also entirely in the opinion," 
he wrote to an anti-nullification South Carolinian, 
" that the danger is not over. A systematic and bold 
attack, now just begun, will be carried on, I apprehend, 
against the just and constitutional powers of the 
Government, and against whatsoever strengthens the 
union of the states. For my own part, I look forward 
to an animated controversy on these points for years to 
come ; and if we can sustain our side of the controversy, 
my dear sir, with success, as I hope and believe we 
may, we shall transmit to posterity an inheritance 
above all price. " * 

1 Webster to Perry, April 10, 1833. Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, 
p. 458. 



CHAPTER X 

PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 

IN the early summer of 1833 Webster found leisure 
to pay the Middle West a visit which had been long in 
contemplation. Traveling from Boston by way of 
Albany, he tarried in the valley of the Genesee to 
study the agriculture of that attractive region, visited 
Buffalo, where he declined the honor of a formal recep- 
tion, pressed on to Columbus, and at length arrived at 
Cincinnati, where, at a public dinner, he spoke for an 
hour in response to the toast " the profound expounder 
of the Constitution, the eloquent supporter of the 
Federal Union, and the uniform friend and advocate of 
the Western country. ' ' By reason of the prevalence of 
the cholera in many of the Western cities, and likewise 
on account of his desire to return to New England be- 
fore the close of a visit of the President to that section, 1 
he refused the scores of invitations which poured in 
upon him from various remoter states and cities, and 
from Cincinnati turned back eastward. Among the 
invitations was one from Clay, urging an excursion to 
Louisville and Lexington, and one from a committee of 
citizens of Nashville, the home of Jackson. On the 
return trip he arrived, July 4th, at Pittsburgh, where, 
four days later, he was tendered an informal and 
highly enthusiastic outdoor reception and was induced 

1 Jackson left Washington early in June and, after sojourning in 
Boston and vioinity throughout the month, returned to the capital 
July 4th, while Webster was yet on the way from the West. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 257 

to deliver an address of some length. 1 So notable were 
the amenities of the trip that the National Intelligencer 
was moved to declare : " Mr. Webster has wrought lit- 
tle less than a miracle upon the party feuds and 
divisions of the Western country ; he has fairly extin- 
guished the one and obliterated the other." It was 
hardly to be expected, however, that the felicitations 
of an hour would exert an effect that would prove en- 
during, and ere long not only were the " feuds and 
divisions " of the West as rampant as ever they had 
beeu, but Webster himself was plunged afresh in the 
swirl of party controversy. 

A memorandum bearing the laconic title " Objects," 
without date, but drawn up about the time of the 
Western journey, sets forth in an illuminating fashion 
Webster's programme of public policy at this stage of 
his career. It runs, in part : " First, and principal, 
to maintain the Union of the states, and uphold the 
Constitution, against the attempts of its enemies, 
whether attacking it directly by nullification, or seek- 
ing to break it up by secession. Second, to support 
the Administration, fairly, in all its just and proper 
measures ; and especially to stand by the President in 
his patriotic constitutional principles. Third, to main- 
tain the cause of American Capital, American In- 
dustry, and more than all American Labor, against 
foreign and destructive competition, by a reasonable, 
moderate, but settled and permanent system of protect- 
ive duties. Fourth, to preserve the general currency 
of the country, in a safe state, well guarded against 
those who would speculate on the rise and fall of cir- 
culating paper ; and to this end to advocate the 

1 ''Works of Daniel Webster," Vol. I, pp. 291-306 ; "Writings 
and Speeches," Vol, II, pp. 141-156. 



258 DANIEL WEBSTER 

renewal of the Bank of the U. S. as the best means of 
promoting this end, and as especially useful in this 
part of the Country, as a check against the combina- 
tion of other monied influences. Fifth, to resist and 
oppose the oppression and tyrannical combination of 
the Eegency. . . . Sixth, I oppose, vigorously and 
unceasingly, all unlawful combinations, all secret 
oaths, all associations of men, meeting in darkness, 
and striving to obtain for themselves, by combination 
and concert, advantages not enjoyed by other citizens 
of the Republic." ' 

At the height of the contest over nullification the 
Administration had been pleased to profit by the sup- 
port of so powerful an advocate as Webster, and after 
the crisis had passed the President took pains person- 
ally to express his appreciation of the service that had 
been rendered. It is the testimony of Benton that 
many people at the time imagined that thereafter 
Webster and Jackson would be found in substantial 
accord and that a cabinet appointment or an important 
post abroad would be the senator's reward. If, how- 
ever, there were those who really contemplated such a 
possibility, they must have been persons whose ac- 
quaintance with the two men was far from intimate. 
For in training, temperament, and ideas there was be- 
tween the two the most complete incompatibility. 
They had in common an undying devotion to the 
Union and a purpose to promote under all circumstances 
the enforcement of the laws j but beyond that they 
could not go far together. " On many points of what 
was then the proposed future policy of the Govern- 
ment," asserted Webster himself in 1838, " there was 
no great difference of opinion ; but there was an irrec- 
1 Van Tyne, "Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 183. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 259 

oncilable difference on the great question of the cur- 
rency." 1 And it so happened that throughout the 
Jacksonian period the one subject which was most 
persistently thrust into the foreground of congressional 
and public controversy, even beyond nullification it- 
self, was the currency. 

During the winter of 1832-1833 the hostility of the 
President toward the Bank assumed a new and start- 
ling aspect. Not content with the defeat of the meas- 
ure to recharter the institution, Jackson now proposed 
that the funds of the United States deposited with the 
Bank should be withdrawn forthwith and that all de- 
posits should be made thereafter in state banks to be 
selected by the Executive. The Bank of the United 
States was to be left to eke out such an existence as it 
might until its charter should expire in 1836. The 
project was under consideration as early as December, 
1832, and by the following March Webster was in- 
formed of it, although he was not at liberty to speak 
publicly concerning it. At the end of May McLane, 
who was opposed to the removal, was succeeded in the 
Treasury by William Duane, who was supposed to be 
favorable, and after his return from the New England 
tour, in July, the President resolved definitely upon 
the execution of the plan. It is suggested by Mr. 
Curtis that had Webster been in Boston upon the oc- 
casion of the President's sojourn there he might have 
exerted his influence successfully to avert the step 
which was impending. This is, of course, sheer con- 
jecture. Without question Jackson was laboring un- 
der the disadvantage of bad advice upon the subject, 
but there is no reason, other than his friendly disposi- 

1 Memorandum of 1838, based on conversations with Edward 
Livingston in 1833. Cited in Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 464. 






260 DANIEL WEBSTER 

tion toward Webster at this time, for supposing that 
he would have been turned by a political opponent 
from a course which had long appealed to him as en- 
tirely logical and necessary. In any event, on Sep- 
tember 18th he read to the cabinet a paper announcing 
his final purpose ; two days later the decision was 
made public ; on September 23d Duane, refusing to 
lend himself to the scheme, was succeeded at the 
Treasury by Roger B. Taney ; on September 26th the 
new secretary signed the order for the removal ; and 
October 1st deposits began to be made in the first of 
the state institutions to be selected for the purpose, 
the Girard Bank of Philadelphia. 

The effect of this sudden shift in the relations of the 
government with the banking institutions of the coun- 
try was to precipitate wide-spread panic and commer- 
cial distress, and when Congress reassembled, in De- 
cember, 1833, the two houses were deluged with 
memorials calling for relief. To the course of the Ad- 
ministration Webster, who at this critical juncture 
became chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, 
was unalterably opposed. The subject of public 
finance was one in which he had long manifested in- 
terest in a very special degree. He represented a sec- 
tion of the country in which business and trade were 
highly developed and in which the property of the 
people was wrapped up absolutely with the mainte- 
nance of a sound and uniform currency. He was not a 
thoroughgoing ' ' hard-money ' ' man. On the contrary, 
he regarded paper money as a desirable adjunct of 
every well-ordered currency system. But he would 
have the circulation of depreciated paper repressed by 
the refusal of the government to accept as revenue any 
paper which was not actually and immediately con- 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 261 

vertible into specie — a policy which, it may be said, 
had been maintained without deviation through up- 
ward of two decades. He believed, furthermore, that 
the continuous existence of a great financial institution 
of the type of the Bank of the United States was nec- 
essary to preserve the stability and uniformity of the 
currency, and he considered the banks of the states to 
be altogether incapable of performing the service 
which had been performed by that Bank. He recog- 
nized in 1833 that as matters stood hardly more was 
to be hoped for than a possible agreement to prolong 
for a brief period after 1836 the existence of the Bank ; 
but the existence of the Bank would be of little avail 
unless the government should continue to transact 
business through the institution, so that the most im- 
mediate task was to bring to bear the pressure neces- 
sary to compel a reversal of the President's policy re- 
specting the deposits. 

On December 26th Clay introduced in the Senate 
two memorable resolutions designed to comprise at 
the same time a censure of the President and an asser- 
tion of the ultimate authority of Congress over the 
subject under controversy. The first declared that, 
by dismissing Duane because he would not order the 
removal of the deposits, and by appointing Taney be- 
cause he was willing to perform this act, the President 
had " assumed upon himself authority and power not 
conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in dero- 
gation of both." The second affirmed that the reasons 
assigned by Secretary Taney for the removal were 
" unsatisfactory and insufficient." Throughout the 
earlier months of 1834 discussion of these resolutions 
and of kindred proposals occupied the attention of the 
Senate almost to the exclusion of everything else. Be- 



262 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

tween January 20th, when he presented a memorial 
adopted by a public meeting in Boston, and the ad- 
journment of Congress, in June, Webster alone spoke 
upon the subject no fewer than sixty -four times. On 
February 5th he submitted for the Committee on 
Finance an elaborate report on the second of Clay's 
resolutions, recommending its adoption, 1 and March 
18th he introduced and defended a bill for the pro- 
longation of the Bank charter during a period of six 
years. 2 On March 28th both of Clay's resolutions were 
adopted, the one by a vote of twenty-six to twenty, the 
other by a vote of twenty -eight to eighteen. The sub- 
ject, however, continued uninterruptedly under con- 
sideration, for although Webster's bill was not carried, 
on April 17th the President sent to the Senate a mes- 
sage in which he protested against the censure which 
had been passed upon him as " wholly unauthorized 
by the Constitution, and contrary to its spirit and to 
several of its express provisions," and requested that 
the message and protest be entered at length on the 
journals of the Senate. This remarkable rejoiuder 
precipitated a notable outburst of debate. Into it 
Webster was drawn with much reluctance, for he still 
appreciated too deeply the services of the President in 
the crisis which had been passed to be able to find the 
satisfaction which some of his colleagues found in sub- 
jecting him to attack. He felt very strongly, however, 
that the balance of power contemplated in the Consti- 
tution was menaced by the attitude which Jackson 
had assumed, and on May 7th he was led to deliver a 
powerful speech in defense of the recently adopted 
resolutions of censure. 

1 "Writings and Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 50-81. 

2 lMd., Vol. VII, pp. 82-102. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 263 

The propositions which were advanced in the presi- 
dential protest were, in brief, (1) that the Constitu- 
tion, by vesting in the President the supreme executive 
power, including the power of appointment, was in- 
tended to give him discretionary control over the 
tenure and conduct of all subordinate executive offi- 
cials; (2) that notwithstanding the provision of the 
Bank chatter to the effect that the public deposits 
might be discontinued only on order of the Secretary 
of the Treasury, in which event that officer should lay 
before Congress his reasons for the course adopted, the 
President might interrjose his own judgment, instruct the 
Secretary to remove the deposits, and dismiss him from 
office if he did not comply ; and (3) that neither branch 
of Congress can rightfully take up or consider for the 
purpose of censure, any official act of the President, 
without some view to legislation or the institution of 
impeachment proceedings. The principal issue raised 
by the Protest was, then, " whether the general 
executive power of the President is of such a character 
that legislation cannot direct a subordinate officer to 
perform duties which are executive in their nature, 
without subjecting that officer, in the performance of 
these duties, to the control of the President." l In his 
speech upon this subject Webster surveyed with in- 
cisiveness the debatable ground which lies between 
the defined limits of the executive and legislative de- 
partments and sought to show that the position which 
Jackson had assumed was untenable. 2 The general 
power of appointment and removal was, of course, 
recognized. But it was maintained that, even thougli 

1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 489. 

3 " Works of Webster," Vol. IV, pp. 103-147; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 103-147. 



264 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the President might change the officer, the duties of 
the office must remain as determined by Congress, and 
they must be discharged by the successor in accord- 
ance with the law. It cannot be said that the argu- 
ment, masterful as it was, was at all points conclusive. 
The removal of the deposits is commonly adjudged 
a serious mistake, but the controversy which arose 
from it, in so far as it was of a purely constitutional 
character, involved some elements of advantage on 
both sides. The ultimate right of protest which Jack- 
son asserted can hardly be questioned ; nor can the 
President's contention that the grant of the power of 
impeachment precludes the indulgence of Congress in 
mere " censure." On the other hand, it is scarcely to 
be admitted that the President had a right to demand 
the admission of his protest to a place in the Senate 
journals. 

Immediately following Webster's speech the Senate 
adopted, by substantial majorities, a series of resolu- 
tions declaring that the Protest asserted powers as be- 
longing to the President which were inconsistent with 
the authority of Congress and contrary to the Constitu- 
tion, that the President had ' ' no right to send a protest 
to the Senate against any of its proceedings," and that 
the Protest should not be entered upon the journals. 
The opposition majority was powerless, however, to 
do more than thus to express its hostility, for in the 
House of Representatives the Jacksonians commanded 
a substantial majority, and when the Senate resolu- 
tions were transmitted to that body they were merely 
laid upon the table. So far as the immediate circum- 
stance went, the triumph of the President was com- 
plete. A clear result of the controversy, however, had 
been to consolidate more effectively than hitherto the 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 265 

elements from which the Whig party was being 
gradually evolved ; and in time the effect of this con- 
solidation was destined to be felt in the collapse of the 
Jacksouiau regime under repeated Whig assaults. 

During the sessions of 1834-1835 and 1835-1836 the 
attention of Congress was absorbed in no small measure 
by a threatening situation which had arisen between 
the United States and France. By a convention con- 
cluded July 4, 1831, the French Government had 
obligated itself to pay to the United States the sum of 
twenty-five million francs in liquidation of claims of 
American citizens arising from commercial injuries re- 
ceived during the era of the Napoleonic wars. Pay- 
ment was to be made in six annual instalments, begin- 
ning one year from the exchange of ratifications of the 
treaty (February 2, 1832). The treaty was unpopular 
in France and when, in February, 1833, the first pay- 
ment fell due, a draft on the Minister of Finance, 
presented through the Bank of the United States, was 
refused on the ground that the Chambers had ad- 
journed without making an appropriation to meet it. 
Two years of inaction and vain parleyings ensued, and 
in December, 1834, President Jackson, irritated by the 
delay, laid before Congress a complete history of the 
negotiations and recommended that a measure be 
passed authorizing reprisals upon French property in 
the event that no appropriation should be made at 
the approaching session of the French Chambers. In 
Paris the President's recommendation was taken as a 
threat, and in January, 1835, the French minister at 
Washington was recalled and the American minister 
to France, the ex-secretary of state Livingston, was 
given his passports. The Chambers were disposed to 
insist that before payment of the debt should be begun 



266 DANIEL WEBSTER 

President Jackson should be required to tender an 
apology for the insult which had been offered. Noth- 
ing was more certain than that such an apology would 
not be forthcoming, and war seemed imminent. In 
the Senate, however, the Committee on Foreign Af- 
fairs, under the chairmanship of Clay, reported that it 
would Jbe inexpedient to adopt the President's recom- 
mendation. "There are," wrote Webster, "three 
parties in Congress on this question : the Jackson 
party proper, which, like its chief, feels very warlike ; 
the Southern anti -Jackson men, who seem to me to be 
in the other extreme ; . . . and then there is the 
rest of us, who desire to say and do nothing to en- 
courage France in her neglect of our rights, and who 
are not willing, nevertheless, to hazard the peace of 
the country without absolute necessity." 1 It was this 
third group which, fortunately for all concerned, con- 
trolled the policy of the houses throughout the crisis. 
In the annual message of December 7, 1835, the Presi- 
dent declared that the honor of his country should 
never be stained by an apology from him "for the 
statement of truth and the performance of duty," 
and in a special message, January 15, 1836, he again 
counseled reprisals and naval preparedness. On Jan- 
uary 27th, however, Great Britain offered mediation 
and, the offer being accepted, Jackson was able to in- 
form Congress, May 10th, that the difficulty had been 
adjusted and that the four instalments then due had 
been paid. 

In connection with the French episode Webster de- 
livered in the Senate two notable speeches. The first 
was in defense of a bill proposing that the United 

1 Webster to William Sullivan, February 23, 1835. Curtifl, 
44 Webster," Vol. I, pp. 515-516. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 267 

States should assume a definite obligation for claims 
arising from French depredations on American com- 
merce prior to the conclusion of the convention of 
October 1, 1800. These claims, aggregating five mil- 
lion dollars, had been excluded from the convention 
named, and throughout a generation the claimants, 
cut off from recourse against France, had insisted that 
the government of the United States should make 
reparation for their losses. In his speech of January 
12, 1835, Webster urged that the question was not one 
of party nor of public policy but one simply of justice 
to private individuals. l Over the opposi tion of Benton, 
Tyler, Wright, and other influential members, the 
measure was carried in the Senate, January 28th. In 
the House, however, it failed to be acted upon, and in 
point of fact the " French spoliation claims" were 
never put in the way of actual adjustment until, in 
1885, they were submitted formally to the Court of 
Claims. 

The second of Webster's important speeches oc- 
casioned by the French entanglement was that of Jan- 
uary 14, 1836, in explanation of his opposition to the 
Fortification Bill of the previous year. March 3, 1835, 
when the last session of the Twenty -fourth Congress was 
almost at an end, the House of Kepresentatives adopted 
and transmitted to the Senate an amendment to the 
pending Fortification Bill stipulating that the sum of 
three million dollars should be appropriated, to be ex- 
pended by the President for the improvement of the 
military and naval services, provided such an outlay 
should be deemed necessary for the defense of the 
country prior to the next meeting of Congress. In the 
Senate the amendment was opposed with spirit by 
1 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 152-178. 



268 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Webster, on the double ground that no such appro- 
priation had been asked for by the Executive aud that 
the objects of the proposed expenditure were left with- 
out specification. The Senate declined to concur in 
the proposal. The House, however, refused to abandon 
it, and although a conference committee, of which 
Webster was a member, brought in a report favoring 
specific appropriations aggregating eight hundred 
thousand dollars, the House failed to act upon the re- 
port and the entire Fortification Bill was lost. In his 
message of December, 1836, the President asserted that 
much injury and inconvenience had been experienced 
by reason of the failure of the bill and impliedly cen- 
sured the Senate for the stand which that body had 
maintained. Webster having been chiefly responsible 
for the Senate's action, felt it incumbent upon him to 
make reply, and he did so, January 14, 1836, in a 
speech in which he defended at all points the course 
which had been pursued and avowed that if the propo- 
sition of the House were then before the upper 
chamber, " and the guns of the enemy were pointed 
against the walls of the Capitol," he would not agree 
to it. 1 For the employment of this somewhat start- 
ling language he was criticized so sharply by fellow- 
members of the Senate that he was impelled to write 
out a speech in his own defense. By his more intimate 
friends, however, he was persuaded that a formal re- 
ply was neither necessary nor expedient. 

On February 16, 1835, the Senate having under con- 
sideration a bill intended to reduce the influence 
wielded by the President through the public patron- 
age, Webster made a speech in which he discussed 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. IV, pp. 205-229 j " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol, VII, pp. 205-229, 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 269 

with fulness the questions involved in the appoint- 
ment and removal of federal officials and gave expres- 
sion to some distinctly unusual views to which he 
clung upon that subject. 1 The extent of the patronage 
had become such, he asserted, that the mass of private 
and personal interest by it injected into all public 
elections and public questions had reached, already, 
an alarming height. The only remedy, it seemed to 
him, was to place a restriction upon " the unlimited 
power to grant office and to take it away " which the 
Chief Executive enjoyed ; and the most obvious means 
of doing this was to bring to bear what Webster al- 
ways believed to be the true intent of the Constitution, 
namely, that the power of removal, like the power of 
appointment, should be exercised, not by the Presi- 
dent alone, but by the President and Senate con- 
jointly. It is well enough known that in 1789 the 
question arose as to whether the Senate should be en- 
titled to cooperate with the President in removals, and 
that, despite a good deal of difference of opinion, the 
view finally prevailed that practical convenience re- 
quired that in the making of removals the Chief Exec- 
utive should be free to act alone. This decision Web- 
ster believed to have been unwise, if not clearly con- 
trary to the meaning and intent of the Constitution, 
and in the speech of 1835 he developed at length his 
reasons for so believing. At the same time, he recog- 
nized that the practice of decades was not likely to be 
reversed at a stroke, and he expressed himself as, for 
the present, content with the pending bill, which re- 
quired that when a nomination should be made to the 
Senate to fill a vacancy created by the removal of an 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. IV, pp. 179-199; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 179-199. 



270 DANIEL WEBSTER 

incumbent the nomination of the new official should 
be accompanied by an explanation of the reasons for 
the removal of the old one. It is the almost unani- 
mous judgment of students of our constitutional law 
that the decision of 1789 was, in point of fact, the 
only correct one, and that the method of removal 
which Webster advocated would but tend to diffuse 
responsibility and hence to aggravate the evils com- 
plained of. The argument which he made was plausi- 
ble, but it was essentially speculative in character and 
was not altogether devoid of the spirit of partisanship. 
The bill which gave rise to the debate failed to become 
law. 

Throughout the years 1835-1836 the attention of 
Congress continued to be occupied from time to time 
by questions arising more or less immediately from 
the discontinuance of the Bank. On February 18, 
1835, Senator Benton introduced a resolution to ex- 
punge from the journals of the Senate the record of 
the censure of Jackson voted March 28, 1834. By a 
vote of thirty-nine to seven, however, the proposal was 
rejected and, upon motion of Webster, the resolution 
was laid upon the table. A similar proposal, in 1836, 
met a similar fate, and it was not until January 16, 
1837, that an expunging resolution was finally carried, 
by the narrow vote of twenty-four to nineteen. The 
revision of the records of the chamber which was at 
last obtained was clearly unconstitutional, but the 
President was vindicated to his own and his support- 
ers' satisfaction and "the people" were once more 
supreme. Against the adoption of the resolution 
Webster made emphatic protest. " We tell you," he 
declared, speaking for his colleague and himself, 
" that you have no right to mar or mutilate the record 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 271 

of our votes given here, arid recorded according to the 
Constitution j we tell you that we may as well erase the 
yeas and nays on any other question or resolution, or 
on all questions or resolutions, as on this ; we tell you 
that you have just as much right to falsify the record, 
by so altering it as to make us appear to have voted 
on any question as we did not vote, as you have to 
erase a record, and make that page a blank in which 
our votes, as they were actually given and recorded, 
now stand. The one proceeding, as it appears to us, 
is as much of a falsification of the record as the 
other." ' 

In February, 1835, Webster took advantage of a de- 
bate upon a bill regulating the deposits of the public 
inouey to propose and carry a provision to the effect 
that, upon demand, Treasury drafts upon the deposit 
banks should be paid in gold or silver. In the re- 
marks which he made upon the subject, February 
26th, he emphasized the fact that already the disad- 
vantages of the removal of the deposits were beginning 
to appear and that the full effect of the Administra- 
tion's financial policies would be felt only after the 
paper of the Bank of the United States should have 
disappeared from circulation. At the same time, he 
considered the rechartering of the Bank for the pres- 
ent a dead issue. " I wish to say," he asserted, " that 
I consider the question of renewing the Bank charter 
as entirely settled. It cannot be renewed. Public 
opinion, very unfortunately, as I think, for the coun- 
try, has decided against it ; and while there is a strong 
and prevailing sentiment in the minds of the com- 
munity against a measure, it is quite useless to pro- 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. IV, pp. 296-297 ; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VIII, pp. 34-35. 



272 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

pose it. For myself, I shall take no part in any at 
tempt to renew the charter of the Bank. The people 
have decided against its continuance, and it must ex- 
pire. Nor shall I, if I remain in public life, join in 
any attempt, at auy time hereafter, to establish a new 
national bank, till experience of its want shall have 
satisfied the country of its great utility or indispen- 
sable necessity. That the time will come when the 
country will feel the fullest conviction of this neces- 
sity, I do not doubt ; but that conviction, I think, is 
likely to be brought about only by experience." ! 

Although recognizing the impossibility of an early 
rechartering of the Bank, Webster was ready to do 
what could be done to save the country from the worst 
consequences of the Administration's policy ; aud as 
chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance it fell 
to him to assume a prominent part in the recurring 
fiscal discussions. The fundamental difficulties of the 
situation arose, in his judgment, from the superabun- 
dance of the public funds and from their insecurity. 
The overflowing condition of the Treasury 2 was attrib- 
utable, so he declared in remarks of April 23, 1835, to 
Jackson's pocket veto (in March, 1833) of Clay's bill 
for the distribution of the proceeds of the sale of pub- 
lic lands ; the insecurity of the public money was af- 
firmed to be a result of the veto of the Bank Bill and 
the removal of the deposits, whereby was overthrown 
" the great and salutary check to the immoderate issue 
of paper money." 3 The distribution project reap- 
peared in December, 1833, and again in December, 1835. 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. IV, pp. 200-201 ; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 200-201. 

2 In January, 1835, the country found itself entirely without 
debt. 

3 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 238-246. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 273 

The proposal upon the later of these occasions was to 
distribute the proceeds of the laud sales for the years 
1833-1837. May 4, 1836, a bill of this purport passed 
the Senate, but the House laid the measure upon the 
table ; and when, June 23d, a bill upon the subject 
finally became law the funds to be distributed were 
made to comprise everything in the Treasury January 
1, 1837 in excess of five million dollars, from whatso- 
ever source derived, and the sums distributed were re- 
garded technically as " loans" rather than as absolute 
gifts. The bill was Calhoun's, although certain features 
of it were introduced in an amendment proposed by 
Webster. 

The policy adopted was that of a single distribution, 
in four instalments, rather than that of continuous 
distributions through either a fixed or an unlimited 
period of time. To a policy of the latter sort Webster 
was unalterably opposed, unless the funds to be dis- 
tributed should be exclusively those arising from the 
sale of public lands. "There would be," he declared 
in a speech of May 31, 1836, " insuperable objections, 
in my opinion, to a settled practice of distributing 
revenue among the states. It would be a strange 
operation of things, and its effects on our system of 
government might well be feared. I cannot reconcile 
myself to the spectacle of the states receiving their 
revenues, their means even of supporting their own 
governments, from the Treasury of the United States. 
If, indeed, the land bill could pass, and we could act 
on the policy, which I think the true policy, of re- 
garding the public lands as a fund belonging to the 
people of all the states, I should cheerfully concur in 
that policy, and be willing to make an annual distri- 
bution of the proceeds of the lands, for some years at 



274 DANIEL WBBSTEB 

least. But if we cannot separate the i>roceeds of the 
lauds from other revenue, if all must go into the 
Treasury together, and there remain together, then I 
have no hesitation in declaring now, that the income 
from customs must be reduced. It must be reduced, 
even at the hazard of injury to some branches of man- 
ufacturing industry ; because this, in my opinion, 
would be a less evil than that extraordinary and dan- 
gerous state of things, in which the United States 
should be found laying and collecting taxes, for the 
purpose of distributing them, when collected, among 
the states of the Union." 1 Herein Webster closely 
approached the eminently sensible position which 
Jackson himself had maintained with respect to the 
entire subject, namely, that the best solution of the 
problem of the surplus was so to amend the fiscal sys- 
tem that there should be no surplus. 

Meanwhile there came on the presidential campaign 
of 1836. On the Democratic side the conditions at- 
tending this contest were almost as simple as those of 
four years before. Jackson, out of regard for the 
third- term tradition, was not a candidate. But the 
policies of his administration supplied everything that 
the party needed in the nature of a platform, and so 
fruitful had been his activity in smoothing the way for 
the succession of Van Buren that when, in May, 1835, 
the party convention met at Baltimore the desired 
nomination was carried by unanimous vote. There 
was no occasion for surprise when in his letter of ac- 
ceptance Van Buren avowed his intent u to tread gen- 
erally in the footsteps of President Jackson." Among 
the opposition, on the other hand, the situation was 

144 Works of Webster," Vol. IV, p. 257 ; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VII, p. 257. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 275 

one of distinct complexity. The most obvious fact was 
the partially accomplished welding of the anti-admin- 
istration forces into a party with a new name, L e., 
Whig. The name Whig was first employed in this 
connection in 1834, when a New York editor, im- 
pressed by the resemblance between the English and 
the American opponents of prerogative, applied it to 
those persons, chiefly National Eepublicans, who were 
crying out against the " executive usurpations " alleged 
to be practiced by Jackson. The principal element 
entering into the composition of the Whig party of 
1836 was the National Eepublicans. But more or 
less closely affiliated were men of other and widely 
varied antecedents— principally Antimasons, South 
Carolina "nullifiers," and Democrats who were un- 
friendly to Jackson. Among these groups there was 
little community of interest save such as arose from 
hostility toward the President and his system, and 
plans for the forthcoming campaign were developed 
in a loose and unpromising manner. That Clay, still 
the recognized leader of the preponderating element of 
the opposition, should be the Whig candidate against 
Van Buren seemed the logic of the situation. Yet 
Clay had suffered defeat in 1832, and the feeling was 
wide spread that some other candidate might now be 
able to make a better showing. Against him, at any 
rate, there were brought into the field a number of 
local favorites— Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, General 
William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, John McLean, also 
of Ohio ; and among the number was Webster. 

The movement in behalf of Webster's candidacy 
dates from at least as early as 1S34. It developed first 
in Massachusetts, but spread throughout New Eng- 
land, and eventually somewhat beyond. In the legis- 



276 DANIEL WEBSTER 

lature of Massachusetts the Whigs commanded a sub- 
stantial majority, and toward the end of 1834 it was 
proposed from many quarters that, in default of other 
means of bringing a candidate before the country, this 
body should tender Webster a formal nomination. 
During the early months of 1835 Webster was in fre- 
quent communication with Jeremiah Mason upon the 
subject. On January 1st he writes : "Whether it is 
or will be best for Massachusetts to act at all on the 
subject of a nomination is a question which I leave 
entirely to the judgment of others. . . . A nomi- 
nation by Massachusetts would certainly be one of the 
highest proofs of regard which any citizen can receive. 
As such, I should most undoubtedly esteem it. But, 
in the present condition of things, and with the pros- 
pects which are before us, a nomination is a question- 
able thing to one who is more desirous of preserving 
what little reputation he has than anxious to grasp at 
further distinction." * It was added that " if Massa- 
chusetts is to act at all, the time has come " ; for active 
movements were on foot in behalf of other candidates. 
On January 5th there came a letter from Abbott Law- 
rence communicating the opinion that a nomination 
was certain to be forthcoming and expressing the hope 
that Webster would not be influenced by it to resign 
his seat in the Senate. January 22d Webster wrote to 
Mason that the nomination of McLean in Ohio "ap- 
pears to take but little," and added : " The schism in 
the Jackson party proceeds. It appears to me that 
nothing is likely to stop its progress. If we Whigs 
had union and energy, we have now before us a pros- 
pect noway discouraging." 2 The expected nomina- 
tion was made near the end of January, and on Feb- 

1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 503. J Ibid., Vol. I, p. 506. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 277 

ruary 1st Webster wrote to Mason : " The nomination 
appears to have been done as well as it could be. I 
mean, of course, in the manner of it. No fault is 
found with it by our friends, so far as I know. Meas- 
ures are in train to produce a correspondent feeling 
and action in New York, Vermont, and some other 
states. ' ' ' 

The purposes of Clay and his friends remained the 
most elusive factor in the situation. " Mr. Clay, ? ' 
continued Webster in the letter just quoted, "does 
nothing, and will do nothing, at present. He thinks 
— or perhaps it is his friends who think — that something 
may yet occur, perhaps a war, which may, in some 
way, cause a general rally around him. ... If 
Massachusetts stands steady, and our friends act with 
prudeuce, the union of the whole Whig and Anti- 
masonic strength is certain. Neither you nor I have 
ever believed it would be easy to get Southern votes 
for any Northern man ; and I think the prospect now 
is that Mr. Van Buren will lose the whole South/' 
On February 6th Webster addressed Mason at some 
length regarding the possibility of his retirement from 
the Senate. He said that he had looked forward to 
the events which the approaching election might bring 
about as likely to provide a suitable occasion for h is 
resignation, although he had reached no decision which 
might not be modified by the advice and wishes of 
friends. " I do not affect," he wrote, " to desire to re- 
tire from public life, and to resume my profession. My 
habits, I must confess, and the nature of my pursuits 
for some years, render it more agreeable to me to attend 
to political than to professional subjects. But I have 
not lost all relish for the bar, and can still make some- 
1 Van Tyne, " Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 194. 



278 DANIEL WEBSTER 

thing by the practice ; and, by remaining in the 
Senate, I am makiug sacrifices which my circumstances 
do not justify. My residence here at Washington so 
many months every year greatly increases my expenses, 
and greatly reduces my income. ... I find it in- 
convenient to push my practice in the Supreme Court 
while a member of the Senate ; and am inclined, under 
any view of the future, to decline engagements here- 
after in that Court, unless under special circum- 
stances." ! 

Throughout the year 1835 the political outlook con- 
tinued very uncertain, and multiplied evidences of 
public appreciation of Webster's statesmanship and 
services to his country gave promise of a possible 
agreement upon him as the most effective candidate 
against Van Buren. In March he declined the honor 
of a public dinner at Harrisburg. In August he was 
prevailed upon, during the course of a professional 
visit to Bangor, to address the citizens of that place. 
On October 12th he was presented with a magnificent 
vase by the citizens of Boston, and in the presence of 
four thousand people assembled in the Odeon he spoke 
at some length upon the character of the Constitution 
and the nature of the perils by which that instrument 
was beset. 2 In November he was invited to a public 
dinner in Philadelphia, and in December to one in 
Baltimore ; but both of these invitations were declined. 
From numerous quarters came flattering assurances of 
readiness to lend support in a campaign for the pres- 
idency. The tide turned unfavorably however, when, 



1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. I, p. 506. 

2 "Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 325-336 ; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. II, pp. 175-186. The vase is in the possession of 
the Boston Public Library. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 279 

in December, the Whig and Antiniasonic conventions 
of Pennsylvania, assembled at Harrisburg, placed in 
nomination General Harrison. The Antimasons es- 
pecially had felt an inclination to nominate Webster. 
But when they interrogated him upon the policy which, 
if elected, he would pursue regarding appointments to 
office they were able to obtain only the privately ex- 
pressed reply that it did not consist with his sense of 
duty u to hold oat promises, or anything that might 
be regarded as equivalent to promises, particularly on 
the eve of a great election, the results of which are to 
affect the highest interests of the country for years to 
come. ' ' x The stand thus taken was eminently states- 
manlike, but it did not appeal to the hungry horde, 
and the nomination went elsewhere. 

In the end the anti-Jackson forces were able to unite 
upon no one candidate. In truth, their plan of cam- 
paign became that of division rather than of unity, the 
hope being that the splitting of the vote of the country 
among a number of sectional favorites would have the 
effect of throwing the election into the House of Rep- 
resentatives, where a turn of fortune might well result 
in the triuniph of some one of Van Buren' s opponents. 
The scheme was ingenious, but it fell somewhat short 
of attaining the desired result. Its success was condi- 
tioned upon heavy losses of votes by Van Buren to his 
various opponents in their respective sections of the 
country, and while the losses suffered were consider- 
able, the superior discipline of the Democratic party 
served to avert defeat. Van Buren received 762,978 
popular votes, as against 736,250 received by all his 
opponents. He obtained one hundred and seventy 

1 Webster to W. W. Irwin, November 30, 1835. Curtis, " Web- 
ster," Vol. I, p. 611, 



280 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

electoral votes aiid his opponents one hundred and 
twenty-four. Of the one hundred and twenty-four, 
Harrison received seventy -three, White twenty-six, 
Webster fourteen, and William P. Mangum of North 
Carolina eleven. It had been hoped that Webster 
might receive the votes of at least some of the New 
England states other than Massachusetts. He, how- 
ever, failed to do so. Maine, New Hampshire, Ehode 
Island, and Connecticut were carriod by the Demo- 
crats, while the seven votes of Vermont went to Har- 
rison. That Webster already cherished a well-defined 
ambition to attain the presidency is beyond dispute. 
But he could never have regarded the situation in 1836 
as really favorable, and there is no evidence that the 
result was a source of either surprise or lasting disap- 
pointment on his part. 

Circumstances so shaped themselves that the subject 
of dominating interest throughout the years of the ad- 
ministration of President Van Buren was that of 
finance. Despite the fact that as late as the beginning 
of 1837 the business of the country seemed highly pros- 
perous, before the retirement of Jackson two months 
later there set in, beginning in the South and spread- 
ing northward, the most ruinous and far-reaching 
crisis the country had ever known. The causes were 
numerous and complex. Excessive speculation, reck- 
less banking, inflation of prices, and the failure of cer- 
tain English firms engaged in the cotton trade were 
among them. In some degree they are to be traced, 
too, to the financial expedients of the Jacksonian pe- 
riod — the withdrawal of the deposits, the termination 
of the Bank, the distribution of the surplus, and, 
finally, the promulgation of the Specie Circular. The 
last-mentioned measure, comprising an executive order 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 2S1 

under date of July 11, 1S3G, requiring that after 
August 15th only gold and silver should be received 
at the laud-offices iu payment for public lauds, had the 
effect of augmenting enormously the difficulties of the 
banks in the West, where specie was scarce, and when 
Congress assembled for the session of 1837-1838 a res- 
olution was introduced undertaking to rescind it. On 
December 21st Webster spoke at length upon this res- 
olution, pronouncing the Circular both illegal and in- 
jurious and explaining in detail his long-cherished 
ideas upon the proper relations of the government and 
the currency. 1 The resolution was con verted into a bill, 
which passed both houses, but Jackson withheld from 
it his assent, and the Circular remained in effect until 
May 21, 1838, wheu it was rescinded by a joint resolu- 
tion. When, March 4, 1837, Van Buren assumed 
office, the country was already in the throes of busi- 
ness depression and financial distress. As a temporary 
expedient quantities of Treasury notes were issued 
forthwith, and Congress was summoned to meet in 
special session September 4th. 

Some months prior to the inauguration of Van 
Buren, Webster renewed his determination to retire 
from public life, and at the close of January, 1837, his 
purpose was made known to his friends in Massachu- 
setts, to the end that steps might be taken to ensure 
the election of his successor while the legislature 
should yet be in session. Not only in his own state, 
however, but in New York and elsewhere, the an- 
nouncement called forth strong expressions of regret, 
and a committee of the Whigs in the Massachusetts 
legislature made a formal request that the contem- 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. IV, pp. 265-291 ; '« Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 3-29. 



282 DANIEL WEBSTER 

plated resignation be abandoned, or at the least post- 
poned. The pressure brought to bear was too power- 
ful to be resisted, and for the time being the plan was 
given up, although the need of bestowing undivided 
attention for a period upon private and professional 
interests was felt to be imperative. On February 21st, 
when the resignation was impending, a meeting of 
Webster's political friends, presided over by Chancellor 
Kent, was held in New York City and an invitation 
was extended to a public reception. The invitation 
was accepted, and on the evening of March 15th the 
senator was greeted by a large, representative, and 
highly enthusiastic gathering of people at Niblo's 
Garden. The reception became the occasion of the 
most notable speech of a purely political character 
which Webster ever delivered. To no other effort 
did he refer in later times with so much frequency or 
so much pride. In the main, the speech comprised a 
detailed and analytical review of public questions and 
measures since the accession of Jackson to the presi- 
dency. Its tone was moderate but frank. The per- 
sonal integrity of the late President was freely 
admitted, and the service which he had rendered 
the country in the enforcement of the laws was 
acknowledged with unstinted praise. At the same 
time, his executive usurpations, it was maintained, 
had produced a complete and wellrnigh irreparable 
derangement of the currency and of business ; 
and it was predicted that results would be ex- 
perienced far worse than those which as yet were 
apparent. Among the portions of the speech deal- 
ing with subjects other than finance the most note- 
worthy was that in which, apropos the question 
of the annexation of Texas, the speaker gave force- 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 283 

ful expression to his views on slavery and its ex- 
tension. To this matter we shall have occasion to 
return subsequently. 1 

Two months after the appearance at Niblo's Garden 
Webster set out upon his last and most extended visit 
to the West, At Wheeling, May 17th, he was ten- 
dered a public dinner, and the news of the suspension 
of the Eastern banks having just been received, he 
spoke feelingly of a situation which he had u never 
expected to see except as the result of war, a pesti- 
lence, or some other calamity. " 2 At Maysville, Lex- 
ington, Louisville, and Cincinnati there were great 
outpourings of people and more speeches. On June 
9th, St. Louis was reached, and there and in neighbor- 
ing towns the reception was equally enthusiastic. 
Madison, Indiana, was visited/ 1 and thence the line of 
travel led to Chicago, where there were cavalcades, 
festivals, and public addresses. On July 1st Michigan 
City was reached, and thence a return was made to 
Massachusetts by way of Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo, and 
New York. One effect of the journey was to impress 
upon the people of the West the approachableness and 
democratic spirit of a man who in inany quarters was 
still supposed to be temperamentally cold and aristo- 
cratic. In Webster himself the trip deepened the con- 
viction of the actual and latent resources of the West. 
" Already he had embarked upon a plan to acquire a 
great Western farm. He had become owner of a tract 
of land in Sangamon County, Illinois, to which he 

1 See pp. 327-336. " Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 343-380 ; 
"Writings and .Speeches," Vol. II, pp. 193-230. 

2 " Works of Webster," Vol. I, p. 384 ; "Writings and Speeches." 
Vol. II, p. 234. 

3 For the speech delivered at Madison see " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. II, pp. 257-259. 



284 DANIEL WEBSTER 

gave the name Salisbury, and had placed upon it as 
agent a son of the Mr. Thomas from whom he had 
purchased a portion of his estate at Marshfield. 1 Now 
he proposed to add to his Illinois holding until he 
should have at least a thousand acres, and he even 
dreamed of establishing himself upon it at some future 
time, when he should be in a position to withdraw 
from public and professional life. 

When, September 4th, Congress assembled in special 
session President Van JBuren brought forward a num- 
ber of proposals for the relief of the country's disordered 
finances. One was the postponement of the payment 
to the states of the fourth instalment of the surplus 
revenue. Another was the issue of more Treasury 
notes. The third and most important was the estab- 
lishment of a system in accordance with which the 
Xjublic revenues, instead of being deposited in banks, 
of whatsoever description, should be kept in the cus- 
tody of Treasury officials. As expanded in subsequent 
discussion, this proposition developed into the well- 
known Sub-treasury, or Independent Treasury, system. 
The essentials of it had been suggested by Van Buren 
as early as 1834. A bill incorporating the plan was 
introduced in Congress September 14th. Over the op- 
position of the Whigs, who now revived the project 
of a national bank, it was passed in the Senate ; but 
in the House it failed, and although eventually the 
President was successful in carrying his programme 
into effect, it was not until July 4th, 1840, and only 
after three successive measures upon the subject had 
been defeated. The debates upon the first two of these 
bills were enlivened by two lengthy and illuminating 
speeches by Webster. The first was delivered Sep- 

1 See p. 317. 



PUBLIC FINANCE AND WHIG POLITICS 285 

teinber 28, 1837 j the second, January 31, 1838. * Both 
included attacks upon the proposed Independent 
Treasury system, and in both the Whig alternative 
of a national bank was defended with fulness and 
force. 



i << 



WritiDgs and Speeches," Vol. VII, pp. 62-108, 140-161. 



CHAPTEE XI 

SECRETARY OF STATE : THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON 

During the spring of 1839 Webster arrived at a 
decision to spend some months in travel abroad, prin- 
cipally in England. At one time there appeared 
much likelihood of his appointment as a special envoy 
to Great Britain to negotiate a settlement of the long- 
standing controversy regarding the northeastern boun- 
dary. The Secretary of State, Forsyth, suggested to 
the President the making of such an appointment, 
and in order to commend himself as a person qualified 
to uudertake the task Webster prepared and submitted 
an elaborate memorandum upon the proper course to 
be pursued in adjustment of the matters at issue. 1 
The President was authorized specifically by Congress 
to make the proposed appointment. Van Buren, how- 
ever, preferred to allow the negotiation to be carried 
on by the resident minister (Stevenson) exclusively, 
and, although by a curious turn of circumstances the 
opportunity to undertake the adjustment of the pend- 
ing difficulties with Great Britain came to Webster as 
Secretary of State within two years, there was no 
present demand for his services. 

Even so, he resolved upon a trip as a private citizen, 
and, accompanied by his wife, his daughter Julia, and 
a sister-in-law, Mrs. Paige, he embarked at New York, 
May 18th, and landed at Liverpool a fortnight later. 
On June 5th the party journeyed by rail, expending 

1 Van Tyne, " Letters of Daniel Webster," pp. 215-218. 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 287 

ten and a half hours on the way, to London, where on 
the morning following the arrival the streets adjacent 
to the Brunswick Hotel were thronged with the car- 
riages of substantial citizens eager for a glimpse of the 
far-famed orator and statesman. During a two months' 
stay in the metropolis Webster was showered with 
hospitalities. He met Wordsworth, Carlyle, Moore, 
Dickens, Sydney Smith, Hal lam, Canning, Labouchere, 
and scores of other men of eminence. He visited the 
various higher courts, made the acquaintance of the 
judges, and was an interested spectator at numerous 
sittings of the two houses of Parliament. " I do not 
follow sightseeing," he writes to a friend,- "what 
comes in the way I look at, but have not time to hunt 
after pictures, etc. Westminster Abbey and the Tower 
are two of the best things ; they hold such memorials 
of bygone times." * On July 18th a celebration of the 
Royal Agricultural Society was attended at Oxford, 
and upon this one occasion during the trip Webster 
was induced to make a public address. 2 In August 
there was an excursion through Scotland, followed by 
a return to London where, September 24th, the 
daughter was married to a young Bostoniau, Samuel 
Appletou, who, in accordance with an earlier arrange- 
ment, had joined the party. Late in November the 
travelers embarked for the homeward voyage, which, 
however, proved so protracted that it was not until 
December 29th that a landing was effected at New 
York. 

The impression which Webster made upon his Eng- 
lish acquaintances was deep and lasting. l ' Not many 

1 Webster to Curtis, Jnly 4, 1839. Webster, "Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. II, p. 55. 

2 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. II, pp. 285-289. 



288 DANIEL WEB8TER 

days ago," wrote Thomas Carlyie to an American 
friend, "I saw at breakfast the not ablest of all your 
notabilities, Daniel Webster. He is a magnificent 
specimen. . . . As a logic-fencer, advocate, or 
X)ariiamentary Hercules, one would incline to back him 
at first sight against all the extant world. The tanned 
complexion ; that amorphous crag-like face ; the dull 
black eyes under the precipice of brows, like dull 
anthracite furnaces needing only to be blown, the 
mastiff- mouth, accurately closed ; I have not traced so 
much of silent Berserkir rage that I remember of in any 
other man ; a dignified, perfectly -bred man, though not 
English in breeding ; a man worthy of the best recep- 
tion among us, and meeting such, I understand." 1 
"It is but an echo of the common voice here," wrote 
Hallam to Mrs. Ticknor, " to say that I was extremely 
struck by his [Webster's] appearance, deportment, 
and conversation. Mr. Webster approaches as nearly 
to the beau ideal of a republican senator as any man 
that I have ever seen in the course of my life ; worthy 
of Rome or Venice, rather than of our noisy and 
wrangling generation." 2 

It is the testimony of an English acquaintance that 
during his stay in London Webster talked continually 
of his intention to quit public life, both professional 
and political, and to retire to the estate which he had 
purchased in the West. " He spoke of this as a set- 
tled resolve. With these words on his lips, he em- 
barked at Liverpool." 3 However seriously he may 
have contemplated the step at certain moments, it is 
doubtful whether there was ever a fixed resolution upon 

1 Cited in Curtis, " Webster," Vol. II, p. 21. 

2 JMd., Vol. II, p. 27. 

3 DenisoD, quoted in Curtis, " Webster," Vol. II, p. 27. 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 289 

it, and in any case the development of the political 
situation which culminated in the election of General 
Harrison as president in 1840 absolutely precluded it. 
Webster was himself not a candidate in 1840. His 
candidacy was proposed by the Whig members of the 
Massachusetts legislature ; but, prior to sailing for Eng- 
land, in May, 1839, he made it known to his friends 
that he did not care to have his name brought before 
the forthcoming convention of the party. During the 
sojourn abroad he heard little and talked less of Ameri- 
can political affairs. " I express no opinion to any- 
body," he wrote from Glasgow in August, "about the 
pending election. I see enough to convince me that 
our affairs at home are in a very bad and difficult 
state, and I do not profess to know who was born to 
set them right." l 

As the administration of Van Buren progressed there 
were multiplied indications that the Whigs would have 
an excellent chance of success in 1840. To the wide- 
spread desire for reform and the more or less vague 
desire for change which almost inevitably accompanies 
a prolongation of power in the hands of one political 
party there was added in the present instance a very 
definite longing for relief from the chaos and depres- 
sion in which the fiscal measures of the Jacksouian 
regime had involved the country. Van Buren's states- 
manship was of no mean order, his integrity was unim- 
peachable, and his administration of public, including 
financial, affairs was very nearly as effective as could 
have been expected under the circumstances. Themass 
of the people, none the less, were ready for a change. 
The state elections of 1837 resulted unfavorably for the 

1 Webster to Ketohum, Angurt 29, 1839. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence, " Vol. II, p. 65. 



290 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Democrats, and the congressional elections of 1838 and 
the spring of 1839 very nearly resulted in the extinc- 
tion of the Administration majority in the lower 
house. On December 4, 1839, two days after the 
meeting of the Twenty-sixth Congress, the national 
convention of the Whig party assembled at Harris- 
burg. The conditions of the time were such as to 
place a heavy premium upon " availability," and the 
members of the convention were disposed from the out- 
set to be governed in their choice of a candidate by this 
consideration. Clay was still the principal leader of 
the party. But he was a free-mason and an ardent 
protectionist, and it was felt that his position in these 
two respects would render his election improbable. A 
candidate much more nearly of the type called for was 
at hand^in the person of General Harrison, long and 
favorably known both as soldier and civilian, and ex- 
cellently qualified to consolidate the diverse elements 
upon whose support the Whigs must depend for suc- 
cess. When the balloting began Clay led, but on the 
third day of the convention's proceedings the nomina- 
tion was accorded to Harrison. In the hope of at- 
tracting in a special degree the support of the South 
the delegates bestowed the vice-presidential nomina- 
tion upon John Tyler, of Virginia. Clay accepted the 
situation with good grace and promised his unreserved 
support, although he was deeply disappointed and, 
after the successful conclusion of the campaign, a trifle 
disaffected. 

The first news received by Webster as his ship came 
into New York harbor, December 29th, was that of 
the action of the Harrisburg convention. This action 
he thoroughly approved, and the contest which ensued 
enlisted from the beginning his hearty interest. 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 291 

Amidst the swirl of political combat all thought of 
immediate retirement from the Senate was abandoned. 
The campaign, as is familiarly known, was one of the 
noisiest and most exciting in the country's history. 
Having been unable to agree upon a platform, the 
Whigs contented themselves with attacks upon the 
Democratic candidates and with laudation of Harrison 
and Tyler. The Democrats made some effort to press 
the reelection of Van Buren on the strength of the 
record of the administration, but in the end they were 
obliged largely to meet the Whigs with their own 
methods. To Webster there came calls for speeches 
from every portion of the country. Whig mass-meet- 
ings and conventions, especially in the East, were 
hardly considered successful unless he was present to 
speak, and the number of " Tippecanoe " clubs and 
similar organizations in which he was elected to 
honorary membership was legion. In the history of 
the nation there had been no such universal popular 
wish to hear public topics discussed by any single 
statesman. 1 The places at which Webster delivered 
political addresses of largest importance during the 
campaign were Saratoga, Charlestown (Mass.), New 
York, and Richmond, and upon all occasions the prin- 
cipal subject discussed was the unfortunate situation 
of the currency resulting from the fiscal policies of the 
Jackson and Van Buren administrations. 2 

Of the success of the campaign Webster was most of 
the time reasonably certain. " We shall choose Gen- 
eral Harrison," he writes as early as February 16, 
1840, "if no untoward event occurs between this time 

■Curtis, "Webster," Vol. II, p. 42. 

2 For these speeches see, " Writings and Speeches," Vol. Ill, pp. 
1-102. 



292 DANIEL WEBSTER 

and November." 1 "General Harrison's nomination 
runs through the country most astonishingly," he 
writes, March 29th. "Our friends feel confident of 
the Centre, the Northwest, and the North and East, 
Kentucky and Louisiana will doubtless be with us ; 
very probably Tennessee, and there are even hopes of 
Virginia. . . . This hopeful state of things gives 
quite a new aspect to our politics." ' 2 June 11th, he de- 
clares that he does "not doubt that General Harrison 
will be elected by a very large majority " and ex- 
presses the hope that his native state of New Hamp- 
shire " will now see the path of patriotism and duty, 
broad and plain before her, and be ready to follow it." 3 
June 23d he writes to Jaudon : " The prospect is now 
very strong that General Harrison will be elected. 
Indeed, we have no doubt of it. We are more de- 
ceived than ever men were before, if there be not a 
state of feeling which will bring him in by a large ma- 
jority. . . . And now, my dear sir, let me say 
that if this event shall take place, it will change my 
condition, though I cannot say exactly how. Indeed, 
some changes, or a change, will take place, let the 
election go either way. If Mr. Van Buren should be 
reelected, I shall go back to the bar, leaving the Senate, 
and go to work with all my might. If General Har- 
rison should be chosen, I shall equally leave the 
Senate, and you can judge as well as I, perhaps, 
whether I shall thenceforward have anything to do 
with the government, or not." 4 



1 Webster to Edward Everett, February 16, 1840. Webster, 
" Private Correspondence," Vol. II, p. 76. 
5 Webster to Jaudon, March 29. 1840. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 79. 

3 Webster to Coffin, June 11, 1840. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 86. 

4 Webster to Jaudon, June 23, 1840. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 87. 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 293 

At the November elections the confidence of Web* 
ster, and of the Whig prophets generally, was vindi- 
cated. In a total of two hundred and ninety -lour 
electoral votes Harrison received two hundred and 
thirty-four, Van Buren but sixty ; while in the lower 
house of Congress the Whigs were assured a majority 
of forty-four, and in the upper house of seven. The 
overturn which was involved seemed to men of the 
time a veritable revolution. In point of fact, however, 
in most of the states carried by Harrison the Whig 
popular majority was small, and the total popular ma- 
jority was but 145,914 in an aggregate vote of 2,404,- 
118. The victory was substantial, but it was not over- 
whelming, and only by the preservation of harmony 
and the pursuance of wise and moderate policies could 
its results be couserved. On December 1st the Presi- 
dent-elect wrote from Frankfort, Kentucky, a letter 
to Webster from which it appears that certain pur- 
poses relative to the formation of a cabinet, in the 
event of a Whig triumph, had been conceived early in 
the campaign. One of these was to offer a portfolio to 
Clay ; another was to make a similar offer to Webster. 
It was now made known that the post of secretary of 
state had been tendered to Clay, but that this and 
every other position of the sort had been declined. 
" Since I was first a candidate for the presidency," 
Harrison went on to say, "I had determined, if suc- 
cessful, to solicit your able assistance in conducting the 
administration, and I now ask you to accept the State 
or Treasury department. I have myself no preference 
of either for you, but it may perhaps be more difficult 
to fill the latter than the former if you should decline 
it. It was the first designed for you in the supposition 
that you had given more attention to the subject of 



294 DANIEL WEBSTER 

finances than Mr. Clay." l In the event that he should 
feel obliged to decline to enter the cabinet "Webster was 
asked to make suggestions regarding other men avail- 
able for appointment. " Give me your advice freely 
and fully," wrote Harrison, "upon that and every 
other subject, whether you occupy a place in the 
cabinet or not, and it will be at all times thankfully 
received." 

The possibility of the offer of a cabinet position, in 
the event of the election of Harrison, had received 
ample consideration from both Webster and his friends. 
Interests of a professional and personal nature seemed 
still to require a retirement from public life, and, as 
has appeared, such a step was more than once deter- 
mined upon. Few men, however, have ever been bet- 
ter fitted for the public service, and, much as he might 
try, Webster could never get away from the fact that 
he enjoyed the activities and opportunities of such 
service. Long before the election he was urged by in- 
fluential men in various parts of the country not to re- 
fuse a cabinet post if it should be offered him, and 
when it became known that the President-elect had 
made the expected offer there was a universal expres- 
sion of desire that it be accepted. Although, there- 
fore, he should have preferred an appointment as min- 
ister to Great Britain, he decided to accept the portfolio 
of state. "I am willing," he wrote to Harrison, De- 
cember 11th, "to undertake the duties of the office, 
prepared to give to their faithful discharge my best 
ability and all my efforts. You are kind enough to 
suggest that my acquaintance with the subjects of cur- 
rency and finance might render me useful as head of 

'Harrison to Webster, December 1,1840. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. II, p. 91. 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 295 

the Treasury. On that subject my view has been this : 
I think all important questions of revenue, finance, and 
currency, properly belonging to the Executive, should 
be cabinet questions ; that every member of the cab- 
inet should give them his best consideration, and es- 
pecially that the results of these deliberations should 
receive the sanction of the President. This seems 
necessary to union and efficiency of action. If to these 
counsels I may be supposed able to contribute anything 
useful, I shall withhold myself from no degree of labor 
and no just responsibility. For the daily details of 
the Treasury, the matters of account, and the supervi- 
sion of subordinate officers employed in the collection 
and disbursement of the public moneys, I do not think 
myself to be particularly well qualified." l Willing- 
ness was expressed to accept the Treasury portfolio, 
however, in the event that special difficulty should be 
encountered in making provision for it. On December 
27th Webster was informed by his chief that, so far as 
could be observed, his call to the State Department had 
given universal satisfaction. 

The last session of the Twenty-sixth Congress was 
one of comparative unimportance. At its opening 
President Van Buren submitted a message in which 
the Whig proposal to establish a national bank was 
subjected to severe criticism and the recently adopted 
sub-treasury system was accorded the highest praise. 
In the Senate the portions of the message dealiug with 
these subjects were referred to the Committee on 
Finance, and on December 16th and 17th, they were 
made the basis of the last important speech which 
Webster delivered during the present portion of his 

1 Webster to Harrison, December 11, 1840. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. II, pp. 93-94. 



296 DANIEL WEBSTER 

senatorial career. In it the existing state of the 
finances of the country was reviewed briefly but point- 
edly, and it was maintained that during the past four 
years the public expenditure had exceeded the public 
income by as much as seven million dollars a year, so 
that the Van Buren Administration had achieved 
"the dubious distinction of being the first to begin the 
accumulating of a national debt in a time of profound 

peace. ' ' l 

On February 22d, Webster's letter resigning his 
seat was read in the Senate. In advance of his resig- 
nation he communicated to his friends in Massachu- 
setts his desire that the choice of his successor should 
proceed without any reference to his own opinions or 
affiliations, and he especially urged that the coolness 
long existing between himself and John Quincy Adams 
should not be allowed to militate against the candi- 
dacy of the Ex-President. "Mr. Adams's great 
knowledge and ability," he wrote, "his experience, 
and especially his thorough acquaintance with the 
foreign relations of the country, will undoubtedly 
make him prominent as a candidate ; and I wish it to 
be understood that his election would be personally 
altogether agreeable to me." 2 In the end the choice 
of the legislature fell upon Rufus Choate, and Adams 
was continued as a member of the House of Represent- 
atives ; but the magnanimity displayed toward a can- 
didate against whom Webster and his friends had long 
cherished a grievance is not unworthy of note. 

With the inauguration of Harrison and Tyler, 

»" Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 40-54; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IX, pp. 40-54. 

2 Webster to Solomon Lincoln, Jan. 15, 1871. Curtis, "Web- 
ster," Vol. II, p. 57. 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 297 

March 4, 1841, the Whigs were brought for the first 
time into control of the national government. The 
new president had written feelingly of his hope for a 
" quiet and successful" administration. The condi- 
tions of the time, however, hardly afforded ground for 
high expectation in this direction. In the first place, 
the political overturn which had occurred presaged a 
stupendous demand for removals and new appoint- 
ments throughout the government service. In the 
second place, the Whig successes had been won by 
narrow margins, and, as has been stated, the majority 
commanded by the party in Congress, especially in the 
upper house, was so slender that absolute harmony 
was essential to the achievement of legislative results 
and the maintenance of power. But, in the third 
place, substantial harmony was the last thing to be ex- 
pected of the heterogeneous elements which had had a 
share in the winning of the recent victory. And, 
finally, the death of the President within a month 
from his inauguration brought to the White House a 
man whose nomination by the Whigs had been a 
matter of sheer expediency, who was really not a 
Whig at all, and who had sufficient independence of 
spirit to prompt him to a course of action conceived 
without the slightest regard to party obligation. 

Of the tremendous conflict which was waged, during 
the years 1841-1842, between President Tyler and the 
Whig congressional majority, led by Henry Clay, it is 
impossible to speak at length in this place. Prior to 
his death President Harrison had called a special ses- 
sion of Congress, to convene May 31, 1841, and it was 
early in the course of this session that the storm broke 
in all of its fury. On June 7th, Clay introduced in 
the Senate a series of resolutions, which, setting forth 






298 DANIEL WEBSTER 

as they did the legislative programme of the Whig 
leaders, may well be regarded as a belated announce- 
ment of the Whig platform of 1840. l These resolutions 
called, in brief, for the repeal of the sub- treasury law, 
the establishment of a national bank, the laying of 
duties such as would yield revenue adequate for the 
increased needs of the country, and the distribution 
among the states of the proceeds of the sales of public 
laud. The Senate passed immediately a measure to 
meet the first of these demands ; but the issue which 
was pressed most forcefully — and the one which, by 
reason of the President's well-known hostility, was 
certain to prove the most critical — was that of the 
Bank. 

Removed from Congress, and fully occupied with a 
group of diplomatic questions of the utmost serious- 
ness, Webster was in a position to hold aloof, at least 
publicly, from participation in the domestic conflicts of 
the hour. His most immediate concern was the carry- 
ing through of the adjustments which were required 
to safeguard peace with Great Britain. In the execu- 
tion of this task he needed the full and free coopera- 
tion of the President, and he early learned that agree- 
able relations with his chief would be jeopardized by 
any attempt to influence the executive attitude upon 
impending domestic issues. Although, therefore, he 
felt most keenly the desirability of the incorporation 
of a bank, the subject was rarely so much as mentioned 
in the frequent conferences between the two men. It 
was alluded to repeatedly, however, in correspondence 
with friends in Massachusetts and elsewhere. "We 
are in the midst of the session, " wrote Webster to Ed- 
ward Everett, July 24th, " and I may say in the crisis 
1 Garrison, "Westward Extension," p. 58. 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 299 

of our affairs. If we get along with the bank bill, 
bankrupt bill, land bill, and revenue bill, all which 
are on the tapis, we shall stand strong with the public. 
But some of these measures are of doubtful result. 
The great difficulty consists in producing and main- 
taining harmony of action among the Whigs." 1 

The ensuing month revealed, however, that the 
principal obstacle to be overcome was not the tendency 
of the congressional majority to inharmonious action, 
but rather the inflexible attitude of the President. 
On July 28th the Senate adopted the bill for the 
establishment of a bank by a vote of twenty- six to 
twenty- three, and nine days later the House took similar 
action by a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight to 
ninety-seven. ' ' Whether the President will approve it 
[the Bank Bill]," wrote Webster to Everett July 29th, 
u is a question which I hardly dare ask myself. If he 
should not, I kuow not what will become of our ad- 
ministration." 2 On the day on which the bill reached 
the President, Webster wrote to his wife : " He [the 
President] keeps his own counsel as to approving or 
disapproving. Opinions differ very much as to what 
he will do. A great commotion will doubtless follow, 
if he should veto the bill. By agreement, I say noth- 
ing to him on the subject, and have therefore no 
better means of judging than others. But the inclina- 
tion of my opinion is that he will sign the bill." 3 
Action was delayed until August 16th, when the 
measure was returned with a veto, based upon grounds 
both of constitutionality and of expediency. Upon 
the question of passing the bill over the veto the 

1 Webster to Edward Everett, July 24, 1841. Webster, " Pri- 
vate Correspondence," Vol. II, pp. 105-106. 
8 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 106. 3 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 108. 



300 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

Senate was almost evenly divided, and the measure 
was lost. A second bill, framed by the Whig leaders 
partially in consultation with the President, was 
passed in the House August 23d and in the Senate 
September 3d ; but, September 9th, it was returned 
by Tyler without his signature, and all prospect of the 
enactment of a bank bill during the present adminis- 
tration definitely disappeared. 

By the sharp setback which their programme had 
suffered at the hand of one whom they had themselves 
elevated to power the Whigs were alike chagrined and 
enraged. The President was accused of insincerity 
and maliciousness, and a select House committee under 
the chairmanship of John Quincy Adams brought in a 
report in which it was maintained that Tyler had com- 
mitted himself definitely to the second bill in advance 
of its passage in Congress. The charge was denied 
unequivocally by the President, and in all probability 
with essential truthfulness. None the less, all of the 
members of the cabinet save Webster determined to 
enter protest by resignation, and all of the resigning 
members except the Postmaster-General, Granger, 
published statements in which the veracity of the 
President was sharply impugned. Writing to a friend 
in New York, September 10th, Webster informed him 
of the decision of his colleagues, arrived at on the 
previous evening in a conference at which he had not 
himself been present, and of the position which he had 
assumed in the matter. "I told them," he says, 
" I thought they had acted rashly, and that I should 
consider of my own course. I shall not act suddenly ; 
it will look too much like a combination between a 
Whig cabinet and a Whig Senate to bother the Presi- 
dent. It will not be expected from me to countenance 



TBEATY OF WASHINGTON 301 

such a proceeding. Then, again, I will not throw the 
great foreign concerns of the country into disorder or 
danger by any abrupt party proceeding. How long I 
may stay, I know not, but I niean to take time to con- 
sider. " * On the evening of the day upon which this 
letter was written the members of the Massachusetts 
delegation in Congress, gathered by invitation at 
Webster's house, heard from him his reasons for refus- 
ing to concur in the action of his colleagues and as- 
sured him of their belief in the propriety of his course ; 
and three days later he addressed to the editors of the 
National Intelligencer a statement in which he de- 
clared, first, that he " had seen no sufficient reasons for 
the dissolution of the late cabinet by the voluntary act 
of its own members," second, that if he had seen such 
reasons he should not have felt warranted in retiring 
until the President should have been given ample op- 
portunity to make provision for the handling of the 
important questions then pending in the State Depart- 
ment, and, thirdly, that while he was as firmly con- 
vinced of the necessity of a national bank as were any 
of his fellow-partisans, he still had confidence that the 
President would cooperate with Congress in removing 
the obstacles to the incorporation of such an institu- 
tion, and there certainly was no prospect of the at- 
tainment of the desired end through any other means. 2 
The position thus assumed was so manifestly sensi- 
ble and patriotic that it commanded wide-spread ap- 
proval. Only the Whig leaders were disposed to 
criticize, and all save the more rabid of them were 

1 Webster to Ketchum, September 10, 1841. Webster, " Private 
Correspondence," Vol. II. p. 110. 

' Webster to Messrs. Gales and Seaton, September 13, 1841. 
Curtis, " Webster," Vol. II, p. 81. 






302 DANIEL WEBSTER 

soon silenced. The vacancies in the cabinet were 
filled, and on September 13th the special session came 
to a close. Although a considerable amount of reme- 
dial legislation had been enacted, the bank project was 
recognized to be dead, and when the autumn elections 
came on it was revealed that already there had set in a 
sharp reaction against the Whig ascendancy. During 
the regular session of 1840-1841 some of the less im- 
portant portions of Clay's programme were carried 
into operation. The tariff was readjusted and an act 
was passed providing for the distribution of the pro- 
ceeds of the sales of public lands. But the modifica- 
tions of the tariff were neither large nor enduring , and 
the distribution act was rendered inoperative by a 
provision to the effect that no distribution should be 
made when tariff rates should be in excess of twenty 
per cent. On March 31, 1842, Clay resigned his seat 
in the Senate, the more freely to devote himself to the 
reorganization of his shattered party. 

That Webster likewise felt keenly the humiliation 
of his party and the discordant character of the times 
appears repeatedly in his correspondence. " I wish I 
could say a cheering word, " he wrote to Everett two 
months after Clay's retirement, " in relation to the 
general state of our political affairs. But nothing can 
be worse. . . . Our system of self-governmeut is 
now undergoiug an experiment which amounts to tor- 
ture. Party and personal rancor, recklessness, and 
animosity, seem to be making havoc of all just prin- 
ciples, all practical expediency, and all really patriotic 
feeling. I hope for better times, but the present dark- 
ness is thick and palpable." 1 " Public affairs are 

1 Webster to Everett, May 31, 1842. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. I, p. 132. " 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 303 

in a dreadful state," declared a communication of 
August 10th, "and I know not when they will mend. 
Of one thing I am glad, and that is that I am out of 
Congress. I liked Congress very much formerly ; very 
much ; but men and things, habits, tempers, prin- 
ciples, all have changed." "It is obvious," he wrote 
to his son Fletcher, October 19th, " that the political 
power in the country is falling back into the hands of 
those who were outnumbered by the Whigs in 1810. 
All this was to have been expected, from the violence 
and injustice which have characterized the conduct of 
the Whig leaders. " 1 " The recent elections, "he wrote 
three weeks later, "show that the Whig party is 
broken up, and perhaps can never be reunited." 

Despite, however, the chaos which prevailed in do- 
mestic affairs, the Whig Administration was able to 
pursue a vigorous and highly successful course in the 
conduct of foreign relations. The fact that the years 
of his withdrawal from Congress comprised a period 
during which membership in that body could not have 
yielded the best of results, and the further circum- 
stance that the post of secretary of state fell to him at 
a juncture when the foreign situation was unusually 
full of opportunity, contributed enormously, not only 
to Webster's personal satisfaction during these troubled 
years, but also to his diversity of achievement and, 
consequently, to his fame. The period during which 
he retained the direction of the State Department ex- 
tended from the inauguration of President Harrison to 
May 8, 1843, i. e., through approximately the first half 
of the administration. During these years the activities 
of the Department were widely varied. The question 
of the annexation of Texas continued in suspense, but 
1 Van Tyne, " Letters of Webster," p. 281. 






304 DANIEL WEBSTER 

it fell to Webster to vindicate the course of the United 
States in recognizing the independence of the Texan 
republic and to take steps several times looking toward 
the protection of American lives and property in the 
southwest. 1 A treaty of some importance, arranging 
duties upon wines, was concluded with Portugal. A 
mission to China, organized for the purpose of procur- 
ing a treaty of commerce such as had been concluded 
between Great Britain and China, was provided for, 
and in 1844, under the skilful management of Caleb 
Cushing, the enterprise was carried to a successful con- 
clusion. At home, the government's policies respect- 
ing the questions raised by the Dorr " rebellion" in 
Rhode Island were shaped and executed by the De- 
partment. 

The questions of first-rate importance, however, 
which fell to Webster for adjustment were those arising 
from a somewhat extended series of controversies with 
Great Britain, and there is reason to believe that one 
of the considerations by which he was induced to ac- 
cept the secretaryship of state was the conviction that 
he could achieve success in the conduct of our British 
relations where others had failed. Certainly one of the 
principal considerations which influenced him to re- 
main in Tyler's cabinet after the withdrawal of all of 
his earlier colleagues was his desire to complete the 
gigantic diplomatic task to which he had set his hand. 
When he assumed control of the State Department 
there were pending between the United States and 
Great Britain three principal issues. The first was 
that of the boundary between Maine and Vermont, on 
the one side, and the British provinces of Quebec and 

1 See documents in u Works of Webster," Vol. VI, pp. 422-462, 
and " Writings and Speeches," Vol. XII, pp. 96-136. 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 305 

Nova Scotia, on the other. The second was a question 
arising from the relations between American citizens 
and the Canadian insurgents at the time of the rebellion 
of 1837, involving especially the affair of the Caroline 
and the imprisonment in New York of a British- 
Canadian subject of the name of McLeod. The third 
pertained to the status of the international slave-trade, 
and centered largely about the hotly controverted 
principle of the right of search. Of the three issues, 
the first and third were long-standing, but of rapidly 
increasing seriousness ; the second was more ephemeral 
and was the first to be brought to the point of settle- 
ment. 

The McLeod case, which was pressing for attention 
when Webster entered the cabinet, was an outcome of 
the Caroline aifair of December 29, 1837. The Caroline 
was a vessel owned by a resident of Buffalo. She plied 
ordinarily between points on the American side of the 
Niagara River ; but during the course of the Canadian 
rebellion of 1837 she was used to transport supplies 
and reinforcements from the insurgent stronghold, 
Navy Island, to the Canadian side of the stream. On 
December 29th a party of Canadian troops crossed to 
the American shore, cut loose the vessel from her 
moorings, set her on fire, and allowed her to drift over 
the Falls. During the melee a citizen of the United 
States of the name of Durfree was slain. The British 
Government avowed full responsibility for the de- 
struction of the Caroline and protested that the act was 
one of necessary self-defense. The Van Buren Admin- 
istration demurred, but was unable to establish aright 
to reparation. Late in 1840 Alexander McLeod, for- 
merly a Canadian deputy sheriff, made his appearance 
in New York and boasted that it was he who had killed 



306 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Durfree ; whereupon he was placed under arrest and 
indicted for murder. On the ground that the prisoner, 
while participating in the capture of the Caroline, was 
performing an act of public duty for which he could 
not be made personally and individually answerable to 
the laws of any country, the British minister at Wash- 
ington, Fox, peremptorily demanded McLeod's release. 
Feeling in Great Britain, already stirred by the open 
sympathy of large numbers of Americans with the 
Canadian revolutionists, and by other matters, became 
intense. The foreign secretary, Palmerston, curtly in- 
formed the American minister, Stevenson, that Mc- 
Leod's execution would be the signal for war ; l and it 
is certainly true that at no time since 1815 had war be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain been so 
imminent as it was in the spring of 1841. Webster's 
study of the case inclined him to an acceptance of the 
British contention, namely, that responsibility for the 
occurrences in which the prisoner was involved lay 
with the nation and not with the individual, and, ac- 
cordingly, that McLeod should be set free. The pecul- 
iar difficulty of the case arose, however, from the fact 
that McLeod was in the custody of the authorities of 
the state of New York, who were bent upon proceeding 
with the trial which was set for the ensuing May. The 
most that Webster, acting with the concurrence of the 
President, could do was to see that McLeod was pro- 
vided with capable counsel and to have this counsel 
furnished with evidence on which to sue for a writ of 
habeas corpus before the Supreme Court of New York. 
When the writ was unexpectedly denied and the 
prisoner was remanded for trial the situation looked 
dark. But the counsel for the defendant, abandoning 
1 Bulwer, (! Palmerston," Vol. Ill, pp. 46, 49. 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 307 

the line of defense marked out by the State Depart- 
ment, fell back upon the attempt to prove an alibi, 
and, curiously enough, the attempt was successful. 
October 12, 1841, McLeod was acquitted and released. 1 
This termination of the McLeod case, wrote John 
Quincy Adams in his Diary, removed all immediate 
danger of a collision between the two nations, but "left 
the negotiations with the British authorities upon the 
Maine boundary, the South Sea [Pacific] boundary, 
the slave-trade, and the seizure of our ships on the 
coast of Africa thorns to be extracted by purer and 
more skilful hands than are to be found in the Admin- 
istration of John Tyler." ? The author of this caustic 
remark failed completely to estimate at their true 
worth the statesmanship of the President, the diplo- 
matic capacities of the Secretary of State, and the in- 
tegrity and patriotism of the Administration in gen- 
eral. At the moment when the words were penned the 
country was, in point of fact, fast approaching a dip- 
lomatic adjustment with Great Britain destined to be 
both honorable and permanent. For such a consum- 
mation the way was prepared, not alone by the acces- 
sion of Webster to the portfolio of state, but by a gen- 
eral overturn in official circles at London. In June, 
1841, the Whig ministry of Melbourne suffered defeat 
in the Commons, and at the national elections which 
ensued the Tories won so clear a victory that in August 
the making up of a ministry was entrusted to the Tory 
leader, Eobert Peel. At the Foreign Office the aggres- 
sive Palmerston was succeeded by the cautious Aber- 
deen, and the r^w ministry as a whole was disposed to 

'For the uocuments in the McLeod case see " Works of Web- 
ster," Vol. VI, pp. 247-269, and " Writings and Speeches, " Vol. 
IX, pp. 247-269. 2 Adams, " Memoirs," Vol. XI, p. 27. 



308 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

be much more conciliatory than its predecessor. The 
consequence was the rapid smoothing of the way for 
the series of negotiations whose outcome was the notable 
treaty signed by Webster and the British commissioner 
Ashburton in the summer of 1842. 

In many respects the most serious of the pending 
issues between the two countries was that of the north- 
eastern boundary, and in the settlement of this long- 
standing question Webster felt from the first the deepest 
possible interest. The question arose from the ambi- 
guity of the treaty of peace of 1783 regarding the line 
of demarcation between the United States and the 
British possessions on the north. As early as 1802 a 
futile attempt was made by Jefferson to procure a set- 
tlement, and the treaty of Ghent contained a provision 
in accordance with which two joint commissions were 
to be constituted to take under consideration the matters 
in dispute. One of the resulting commissions per- 
formed successfully the work allotted to it, but the 
other, confronted by an essentially impossible task, 
expended six years of arduous effort and ended by 
failing completely to reach an agreement. In 1827 the 
two governments concluded a convention by whose 
terms the issue was referred to an arbitrator ; but the 
referee chosen, the king of the Netherlands, recom- 
mended, in 1831, the adoption of a boundary line which 
he marked out, rather than either of the lines favored 
by one of the contestants, and the recommendation was 
not adopted. Correspondence upon the subject was 
continued intermittently, and the tone of it grew more 
rather than less unfriendly. Not until after the estab- 
lishment of the Whig administration in 1841 did there 
appear prospect of a satisfactory adjustment. Mean- 
while the situation grew ever more serious, for the 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 309 

border populations of Maine and New Brunswick fell 
to fighting over the disputed lands. In 1838-1839 
there was a prolonged series of clashes which acquired 
the designation of the Aroostook, or " Restook," War. 
In March, 1841, Webster entered upon his duties as 
secretary of state convinced that " of all the topics in 
discussiou," that of the boundary was u infinitely the 
most difficult," 1 yet confident that a peaceful adjust- 
ment was by no means impossible. Two years pre- 
viously, as has appeared, he had taken the suggestion 
that he should be despatched on a special mission to 
London as an occasion to draw up a comprehensive 
scheme for the handling of the boundary issue, and in 
1841 he found himself in a position to carry into exe- 
cution the essentials of this plan. To a proposal that 
negotiations should be renewed informally the British 
Government replied favorably, and the appointment, 
late in the year, of Lord Ashburton as special envoy 
evidenced in unmistakable manner the honesty of pur- 
pose of the premier and his colleagues. " The prin- 
cipal aim and object of that part of my life devoted to 
public objects," wrote Ashburton to Webster soon 
after the appointment, u during the thirty -five years 
that I have had a seat in one or the other House of 
Parliament, has been to impress on others the neces- 
sity of, and to promote myself, peace and harmony be- 
tween our countries." 2 The only fault found with the 
appointment in England was that the envoy was likely 
to be too little disposed to insist upon British rights. 
"The special mission," wrote Webster to Everett, 
"was a surprise to us; but the country receives it 

1 Webster to John Davis, April 16, 1841. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence, 1 ' Vol. II, p. 119. 

2 Van Tyne, "Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 253. 



310 DANIEL WEBSTER 

very well. For my own part, no selection of a min- 
ister could be more agreeable to me than that of Lord 
Ashburton, as I entertain toward him sentiments of 
great kindness and regard. ... It [the mission] 
gives me promise of work enough, overwhelmed as I 
already am by affairs growing out of the very unhappy 
state of things among us, and out of the calls and pro- 
ceedings of Congress. But my health is good — never 
better — and if I can so far repress anxiety as to be 
able to sleep, I hope to get through." l 

Lord Ashburton arrived in Washington April 4, 
1842, and was well received in both official and non- 
official circles. It was commonly believed that he 
had come, as Webster expressed it, with "an honest 
and sincere intent of removing all causes of jealousy, 
disquietude, or difference between the two countries." 
The negotiations were opened, at the middle of June, 
with perfect frankness upon both sides, and were car- 
ried through with no deviation from the initial spirit 
of friendliness. The task was complicated enormously 
by the claims of the states of Maine and Massachusetts, 
pressed by specially appointed commissioners, and at 
several stages Webster was inclined to despair of a 
satisfactory issue. But happily the effort was not 
abandoned. The negotiations were so entirely in- 
formal that, contrary to the custom prevailing in such 
work, no minutes of the meetings were iDreserved and 
no protocols whatsoever were prepared. The Secretary 
had at all stages the cordial support of the President. 
" I shall never speak of this negotiation, my dear sir," 
he declared to Tyler after the conclusion of the work, 
" which I believe is destined to make some figure in 

1 Webster to Everett, January 29, 1842. Webster, "Private 
Correspondence," Vol. II, p. 114, 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 311 

the history of the country, without doing you justice. 
Tour steady support and confidence, your anxious and 
intelligent attention to what was in progress, and your 
exceedingly obliging and pleasant intercourse, both 
with the British minister and the commissioners of 
the states, have given every possible facility to my 
agency in this important transaction." ' 

The treaty as signed August 9th dealt with three 
important subjects— the extradition of persons accused 
of crime, the suppression of the international slave 
trade, and the northeastern and northwestern bound- 
aries. The provision concerning extradition was the 
first inserted in any treaty to which the United States 
was a party since the Jay treaty of 1794 ; and the extra- 
dition article of that instrument had expired by limi- 
tation in 1806. The present provision was made both 
comprehensive and perpetual. On the subject of the 
slave trade the treaty went only so far as to stipulate 
that the two powers should maintain in service on the 
coast of Africa independent squadrons sufficient to en- 
force their respective laws for the suppression of the 
slave traffic, and that they should cooperate in " all 
becoming representations and remonstrances " with 
all powers within whose dominion the market for 
slaves was permitted to remain open. The opposition 
of the United States to the right of visitation or search, 
regarded by the British authorities as a necessary ad- 
junct to the campaign against the slave trade, was so 
pronounced that the subject was regarded as one not 
open to discussion, and between Webster and Ash- 

1 Webster to Tyler, August 24, 1842. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. II, p. 147. For the notes exchanged by 
Webster and Lord Ashburton see "Works of Webster," Vol. VI, 
pp. 270-328, and " Writings and Speeches," Vol. XI, pp. 270-328. 



312 DANIEL WEBSTER 

burton it was hardly mentioned. The plan of action 
for which the treaty provided was in reality the 
President's, and it was in his name that it was pre- 
sented by Webster to the British commissioner. The 
settlement of the northern boundaries was made upon 
the basis of compromise. The disputed lines from the 
source of the St Croix to the intersection with the St. 
Lawrence, and from the passage between Lake Huron 
and Lake Superior to the northwestern corner of the 
Lake of the Woods, were agreed upon and described, 
and a commission was provided for to survey and 
mark them. The claims of Maine and Massachusetts 
were satisfied by a payment of one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars to each by the United States. There 
were several minor stipulations regarding the naviga- 
tion of rivers adjacent to the boundaries and other 
kindred matters. 

Upon several pending questions of more or less im- 
portance the treaty did not touch. There was nothing 
regarding the Oregon territory, trade with the British 
West Indies, tariff relations, the violation of territory 
in the case of the Caroline, or the proper course to be 
pursued when slaves belonging to American citizens 
were by any circumstance cast upon British soil. The 
last-mentioned question had been given fresh interest 
by the Creole episode of November, 1841. The brig 
Creole, with a cargo of merchandise and slaves, was 
on her way from Richmond to New Orleans when the 
slaves rose, overpowered the ship's master and crew, 
and put in at the port of Nassau, on the British island 
of New Providence, in the West Indies. The British 
authorities at the port, instead of coming to the relief 
of the crew and setting the vessel again upon her 
course, permitted the slaves to escape and left the crew 



TEEATY OF WASHINGTON 313 

entirely without succor. The affair aroused keen re- 
sentment in the South, and it fell to Webster to seek 
reparation. At the negotiation of 1842, however, 
Lord Ashburton professed lack of instructions, and the 
most that Webster could obtain from him was an un- 
written agreement that there should be no "officious 
interference ' ' with American vessels driven by acci- 
dent or by violence into West Indian ports. Not- 
withstanding these omissions, the results of the nego- 
tiation were regarded in the United States as distinctly 
worthy of commendation, and the treaty, laid before 
the Senate August 11th, was reported by the Foreign 
Eelations Committee without amendment and was rati- 
fied by a vote of thirty-nine to nine, a majority con- 
siderably in excess of that which Webster had ex- 
pected. On October 13th ratifications were exchanged 
at London, and on November 10th the treaty was pro- 
claimed. 

The Webster- Ashburton negotiation comprises one 
of the most highly creditable chapters in the history of 
modern diplomacy. Not only was a threatened war 
averted ; the lofty tone of the negotiation fixed a 
standard which in subsequent times was by no means 
without effect in the dealings of the two nations. 
Each negotiator was firm when the interests committed 
to him required that he be so, but each was actuated 
by a profoundly friendly spirit toward the other, and 
each was ready at all times to make every possible al- 
lowance for the requirements of the other's position. 
Thoroughly grounded in the principles of the law of 
nations, Webster maintained throughout the negotia- 
tion not one point of law whose validity the jurist of 
to-day is disposed to call in question. And the fact 
that the settlements arrived at proved eventually satis- 



314 DANIEL WEBSTER 

factory on both sides of the Atlantic, notwithstanding 
the recent intensity of feeling on both sides, is testi- 
mony alike to the skill and the fairness with which 
the negotiations were carried through. * 

Throughout the summer of 1842 there continued to 
be murmuring among the more radical Whigs by 
reason of Webster's refusal to withdraw from the cab- 
inet, and the fact that in the negotiations with Ash- 
burton the Secretary was collaborating in a cordial 
manner with President Tyler brought down upon his 
head no small amount of open criticism. Even his 
closest friends were insistent that he should not con- 
tinue a member of Tyler's official family after the 
termination of the British treaty. ' ' Your real 
friends," wrote Abbott Lawrence, July 30th, when 
the end of the negotiation was in view, " will unani- 
mously agree with me that noio is the accepted time to 
quit, with honor, your present responsible but disagree- 
able position." "Your best friends here," wrote 
Jeremiah Mason from Boston, August 28th, "think 
that there is an insuperable difficulty in your continu- 
ing any longer in President Tyler's cabinet." The 
demand for his resignation became, indeed, after the 
signature of the treaty, insistent. The attempt to dic- 
tate his course of action appealed to Webster, how- 
ever, most unfavorably. The petty persecution to 
which he was subjected nettled him, and, wholly 
apart from personal considerations, it seemed to him 
absolutely essential that he should remain at his post 
until the execution of the treaty should be entirely as- 

1 Id Parliament the treaty, referred to by its opponents as "Ash- 
burton's Capitulation," was attacked by Palmerston and other 
members of the Opposition. But the objections to it were neither 
fundamental nor lasting. 



TREATY OF WASHINGTON 315 

sured. He therefore gave his advisers scant satisfac- 
tion. "I am a little hard to coax, 77 he declared, 
" but as to being driven, that is out of the question. 77 
His resolution was in no wise shaken by the hardly 
courteous action of the Massachusetts Whig conven- 
tion of September 13, 1842, which definitely declared 
a "full and final 77 separation between the President 
and the Whig party. On the contrary, he was in- 
fluenced by that action to appear in Faneuil Hall, 
September 30th, and in the presence of a brilliant as- 
semblage of his fellow-townsmen to lay bare merci- 
lessly the folly of widening the breach between Con- 
gress and the President, and incidentally to explain 
and defend the course which he was himself pursuing. 
As to his intent for the future he refused absolutely 
to commit himself. " I give no pledges, I make no 
intimations one way or the other ; and I will be as free 
when this day closes to act as duty calls as I was at the 
dawn of this day. 7 ' 1 

During more than seven months thereafter he con- 
tinued at his post, and it was only when, in the spring 
of 1843, he became convinced that he could be of little 
further service to the country as a member of the cab- 
inet that he reached a decision to retire. The period 
was one of comparative inactivity in both foreign and 
domestic affairs. To the last the pleasant relations 
which had subsisted between the Secretary and the 
President were maintained. In his letter of resigna- 
tion, May 8th, Webster assured his chief that no one 
could desire more sincerely or ardently " the prosper- 
ity, success, and honor 7 7 of his administration ; while 
in his very cordial reply the President expressed the 

l " Works of Webster," Vol. II, p. 124; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. Ill, p. 124. 



316 DANIEL WEBSTER 

conviction that in conducting " the most delicate and 
important negotiations" Webster had "manifested 
powers of intellect of the highest order, and, in all 
things, a true American heart." 



CHAPTER XII 

TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE ELECTION OF 1844 

Immediately upon his retirement from the cabinet 
Webster withdrew to his Massachusetts home, now 
definitely fixed at the country seat of Marshfield, and 
throughout the ensuing two years he was enabled, de- 
spite frequent professional engagements, to attend al- 
most continuously to his growing rural interests and to 
enjoy in a larger measure than at any time since youth 
his favored forms of outdoor recreation. Marshfield 
was situated some thirty miles southeast of Boston, in 
the vicinity of the head of Duxbury Bay. The place 
wa^ first visited by Webster in 1824. After he and 
his family had spent a number of summers there, in 
1831 he purchased from his landlord, Captain John 
Thomas, a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, bor- 
dering immediately upon the sea. To this possession 
were added other tracts from time to time until there 
was brought together an estate of eighteen hundred 
acres. The house upon the original tract was a sub- 
stantial square- shaped mansion, built about 1765. It 
proved too small for Webster's use and was added to 
upon several occasions until it became, as Mr. Curtis 
describes it, u a house of various architecture, irregular 
within and without, but spacious and convenient, and 
both externally and internally impressing the visitor 
with a sense of its fitness as Mr. Webster's favorite 
home." l At the time of the owner's retirement from 

1 Curtis, " Webster." Vol. II, p. 217. 



318 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the cabinet a room to be employed as a library was in 
process of construction. In 1839 the house in Summer 
Street, Boston, which Webster had erected and long 
occupied was sold, and thereupon the furniture and 
other personal property of the family was brought to- 
gether in the Marshfield mansion. Only a law-office, 
with a valuable professional library, was retained in 
the city. 

In both the theoretical and the practical aspects of 
agriculture Webster maintained at all times a vital in- 
terest. After the death of his brother Ezekiel, as has 
appeared, he took over the management of the ances- 
tral Elms Farm in New Hampshire, so that his atten- 
tion had thereafter to be divided between the lands at 
Franklin and those at Marshfield. In both places he 
had overseers and carefully selected tenants ; but he 
busied himself none the less with the details of both 
estates. Throughout the periods of hardest labor at 
Washington his correspondence abounds in letters to 
his overseers, notably Mr. Weston at Marshfield, re- 
specting the care of cattle, the sowing and harvesting 
of the crops, the repairing of fences and buildings, 
and the multiplicity of labors involved in the op- 
eration of a profitable farm. From the supervision 
of his agricultural enterprises he derived the deepest 
satisfaction, and it was with unbounded joy that he 
found himself occasionally so free from public and pro- 
fessional obligations as to be able to yoke a string of 
oxen to a plough and break an acre of soil or undertake 
some other feat of rural hardihood. When in the coun- 
try he rose regularly at three or four o'clock, enjoyed 
what he always considered the grandest phenomenon of 
nature, i. e\, the sunrise, made the round of the barns 
with ears of corn for his favorite cattle, and not infre- 



TEXAS, OKEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 319 

queutly brought down some woodcocks or wild ducks 
with his fowling-piece before the call to breakfast. A 
well-appointed fishing-boat was always at hand, and 
with a hard-headed old salt, Seth Peterson, as steers- 
man, many a day was spent in quest of halibut and cod 
in the cool waters of Massachusetts Bay. ' ' Oh, Marsh - 
field, the sea, the sea," was a plaint repeatedly raised 
during wearisome stretches of professional or congres- 
sional routine. 

The opportunity for retirement which presented 
itself in 1843 was especially agreeable to Webster be- 
cause of the need under which he at the time was 
laboring to devote attention to his private affairs. The 
fact has been alluded to that in him the quality of 
thrift was not predominant and that an unfortunate 
trait developed during his youth was an easy and 
habitual indifference to debt. In the practice of his 
profession he made money readily, and often in consid- 
erable amounts. But he spent freely, even lavishly, 
and so large a portion of his maturer years was given 
over to the service of the public that the income which 
otherwise he would have enjoyed from his career at the 
bar was very materially lessened. In 1836, with the 
aid of frieuds, he contrived to adjust all of his accounts, 
so that for once he was entirely free from debt. Con- 
tinued service in the Senate and the cabinet, however, 
involved further diminution of income, renewed bor- 
rowing, and once more, in the course of six or seven 
years, heavy indebtedness. The social obligations of 
his position, reenforced by a personal inclination to 
generous hospitality and good, though not extravagant, 
living, rendered his salary totally inadequate to meet 
his expenses. This salary could be supplemented only 
occasionally and irregularly by lawyer's fees. The 



320 DANIEL WEBSTER 

farms at Franklin and Marshfield were fairly produc- 
tive, but the owner was unsparing in his outlays upon 
line stock, improved methods, better buildings, and 
more land, so that the income was as a rule less than 
the outgo. There were also several landed investments 
in the West, few of which yielded returns. Finally 
must be mentioned the fact that Webster's personal 
finances were managed at all times in a haphazard 
manner. No regular accounts were kept, either by 
himself or by his agents, and it was never possible to 
ascertain precisely which enterprises were paying and 
which were not. In less than a year after his retire- 
ment from the cabinet, however, he was able to report 
that he was already in enjoyment of an income of fif- 
teen thousand dollars from his revived law practice. 
He was hoping, too, to turn some minor pieces of 
property to good account, and with respect to his com- 
plete financial recovery he was altogether sanguine. 
At the suggestion that he should permit himself to be 
returned at an early date to the Senate he demurred, 
on the ground principally that he could not yet afford 
the pecuniary sacrifice that would be involved. 1 

Life at Marshfield during the summer and autumn 
of 1843 was interrupted by the preparation of certain 
public addresses and by occasional trips beyond New 
England, chiefly professional visits to New York. On 
July 23, 1842, the last stone was raised to its place on 
the Bunker Hill Monument, and on June 17, 1843, the 
sixty-eighth anniversary of the battle and the eighteenth 
of the laying of the corner-stone, the completion of the 
giant shaft was publicly celebrated. As was befitting, 
the services of Webster were again sought, and, not- 

1 Webster to Sears, February 5, 1844. Webster, "Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. II, p. 183. 



TEXAS, OEEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 321 

withstanding liis desire for rest, he consented to deliver 
the principal oration of the occasion. Elaborate prepara- 
tions for the day were made, the weather proved ideal, 
and in numbers and enthusiasm the celebration easily 
surpassed that of eighteen years before. The present 
oration was less impassioned than the earlier one, but 
not less powerful. It was delivered in the shadow of the 
giant obelisk, looming two hundred and twenty-one 
feet in the air, and in the presence of an audience of 
one hundred thousand people, at least half of whom 
were within hearing of the speaker's voice. u A 
duty," affirmed Webster in his simple opening sen- 
tences, "has been performed. A work of gratitude 
and patriotism is completed. This structure, having 
its foundations in soil which drank deep of early Eevo- 
lutionary blood, has at length reached its destined 
height, and now lifts its summit to the skies. We 
have assembled to celebrate the accomplishment of this 
undertaking, and to indulge afresh in the recollection 
of the great event which it is designed to commem- 
orate." When, after saying " It is not from my lips, 
it could not be from any human lips, that that strain 
of eloquence is this day to flow most competent to 
move and excite the vast multitude around me, — the 
powerful speaker stands motionless before us," he 
paused and pointed in silent admiration to the great 
pile of granite, the audience burst into unrestrained ap- 
plause, and many minutes elapsed before the address 
could be continued. 

"We have indulged," it was asserted in the mem- 
orable peroration, "in gratifying recollections of the 
past, in the prosperity and pleasures of the present, 
and in high hopes for the future. But let us remem- 
ber that we have duties and obligations to perform, 



322 DANIEL WEBSTER 

corresponding to the blessings which we enjoy. Let us 
remember the trust, the sacred trust, attaching to the 
rich inheritance which we have received from our 
fathers. Let us feel our personal responsibility, to the 
full extent of our power and influence, for the preser- 
vation of the principles of civil and religious liberty. 
And let us remember that it is only religion, and 
morals, and knowledge, that can make men respectable 
and happy, under any form of government. Let us 
hold fast the great truth, that communities are re- 
sponsible, as well as individuals ; that no government 
is respectable, which is not just ; that without un- 
spotted purity of public faith, without sacred public 
principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of gov- 
ernment, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to 
political society. In our day and generation let us 
seek to raise and improve the moral sentiment, so 
that we may look, not for a degraded, but for an elevated 
and improved, future. And when both we and our 
children shall have been consigned to the house ap- 
pointed for all living, may love of country and pride 
of country glow with equal fervor among those to 
whom our names and our blood shall have descended ! 
And then, when honored and decrepit age shall lean 
against the base of this monument, and troops of in- 
genuous youth shall be gathered round it, and when 
the one shall speak to the other of its objects, the 
purposes of its construction, and the great and glori- 
ous events with which it is connected, there shall rise 
from every youthful breast the ejaculation, "Thank 
God, I — I also— am an American ! " l 

During the summer of 1843 Webster was urged to 

l " Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 106-107; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. I, pp. 282-283. 



TEXAS, OREGON, ELECTION OF 1844 323 

attend a fair to be held at Rochester in September, un- 
der the auspices of the New York State Agricultural So- 
ciety. i i Do not wonder, " he wrote to his sister-in-law, 
September 18th, " if you hear of me making a sudden 
expedition to western New York, to be gone four days. 
There are to be cattle and sheep at Rochester. " An 
invitation to be present at an entertainment given by 
the officials of the Agricultural Society on the even- 
ing of September 20th was accepted, and upon this 
occasion two speeches were delivered, one upon indus- 
trial topics in reply to the toast ' * the Farmer of Marsh- 
field," the other an impromptu reply to another speak- 
er's remarks concerning the financial condition of the 
states. l 

Meanwhile there was looming above the horizon the 
presidential election of 1844. Already, in August, 1843, 
the Liberty party had held a convention at Buffalo 
and had placed in nomination for the presidency James 
G. Birney of New York, upon a platform denying the 
power of Congress "to establish or continue slavery 
any where' > and otherwise assailing the asserted 
privileges of the "peculiar institution. " Among the 
Whigs Clay was still unquestionably leader, and 
that he should be accorded the honor in 1844 
which he had been denied in 1840 was from the 
outset inevitable. His only possible rival was Web- 
ster. At the last, Webster received little or no consid- 
eration ; but during the winter of 1843-1844 an ap- 
preciable amount of effort was exerted in his behalf by 
his Massachusetts friends. As has been observed, dur- 
ing the year or more preceding his withdrawal from the 
cabinet Webster's course had been subjected to very 
general criticism on the part of the Whigs everywhere, 

1 "Writings aud Speeches," Vol. XIII, pp. 172-195. 



324 DANIEL WEBSTER 

and notably in his own section of the country. Even 
after his retirement the question continued to be 
agitated as to whether, indeed, he could any longer 
properly be considered a member of the Whig party. 
The charge held against him was not alone his pro- 
longed continuance in the Tyler cabinet under the cir- 
cumstances which have been described, but his re- 
iterated public affirmation that a Bank of the United 
States upon the old plan had ceased to be practicable. 
Upon the constitutionality and desirability of duties 
affording incidental protection to home manufactures, 
the necessity of the distribution of the proceeds of the 
sales of public land, the duty of the general govern- 
ment to employ its full powers in the regulation of the 
currency, and a variety of other tenets of Whig polity 
he remained indubitably orthodox. But to many of 
his fellow-partisans the admission which had been 
made concerning the Bank appeared altogether unpar- 
donable. 

To the friends who were desirous of clearing the 
way for Webster's candidacy in 1844 it seemed im- 
perative that something should be done to afford the 
country at large an assurance that within his own 
section past differences were forgotten and that he was 
regarded again as a party member in good standing. 
To effect this end Webster was persuaded to be pres- 
ent at, and to address, a convention of the Massa- 
chusetts Whigs held at Andover November 9, 1843. 
The speech delivered upon this occasion dealt mainly 
with the subjects of the currency, the tariff, and the 
public lands, but it comprised also a remarkably 
straightforward and convincing confession of personal 
principle. In the course of it Webster affirmed that 
he was not a candidate for " any office in the gift of 



TEXAS, OEEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 325 

the government or in the gift of the people," and that 
his condition as a private citizen would never be 
changed by any movement or effort made for that 
purpose by himself or at his suggestion. "In my 
opinion," he asserted, " nominations for the high 
offices of the country should come, if they come at all, 
from the free and spontaneous exercise of that respect 
and confidence which the people themselves may feel. 
All solicitations of such nominations, and all canvass- 
ing for such high trusts, I regard as equally incon- 
sistent with personal dignity and derogatory to the 
character of the institutions of the country." 

Impelled by the wide-spread controversy to which 
his course had given rise, he went on to declare 
himself as follows: "As a private man, I hold my 
opinions on public subjects. They are all such, in 
their great features and general character, as I have 
ever held. It is as impossible that I should tread back 
the path of my political opinions as that I should re- 
trace, step by step, the progress of my natural life, 
until I should find myself again a youth. On the 
leading questions arising under our constitutions and 
forms of government ; on the importance of maintain- 
ing the separation of powers, which those constitutions 
establish ; on the great principles of such a policy as 
shall promote all interests, maintain general harmony 
in the country, and perpetuate the blessings of polit- 
ical and religious liberty — my opinions, the result of 
no little study, and some experience, have become part 
of myself. They are identified with all my habits of 
thought and reflection, and though I may change my 
views of particular measures, or not deem the same 
measures equally proper at all times, yet I am sure it 
is quite impossible I should ever take such a view, 



326 DANIEL WEBSTER 

either of the public interest or of niy own duty, as 
should lead to a departure from any cardinal prin- 
ciples." ! 

One subject, namely, the propriety of his course 
in refusing to retire from the cabinet in 1841, Webster 
declared he made mention of at this time only because 
the committee which had invited him to the conven- 
tion had made specific allusion to it. "I am aware," 
he said, " that there are many persons in the country, 
having feelings not unfriendly toward me personally, 
and entertaining all proper respect for my public 
character, who yet think I ought to have left the 
cabinet with my colleagues. I do not complain of 
any fair exercise of opinion in this respect ; and if, by 
such persons as I have referred to, explanation be de- 
sired of anything in the past, or anything in my pres- 
ent opinions, it will be readily and cheerfully given. 
On the other hand, those who deal only in coarse 
vituperation, and satisfy their sense of candor and 
justice simply by the repetition of the charge of der- 
eliction of duty and infidelity to Whig principles, 
are not entitled to the respect of an answer from me. 
. . . Gentlemen, I could not but be sensible that 
great responsibility attached to the course which I 
adopted. It was a moment of great excitement. A 
most unfortunate difference had broken out between 
the President and the Whig members of Congress. 
Much exasperation had been produced, and the whole 
country was in a very inflamed state. No man of 
sense can suppose, that, without strong motives, I 
should wish to differ in conduct from those with whom 
I had long acted ; and as for those persons whose 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. II, pp. 180-181; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. Ill, pp. 180-181. 



TEXAS, OREGON, ELECTION OF 1844 327 

charity leads them to seek for such motive in the 
hope of personal advantage, neither their candor nor 
their sagacity deserves anything but contempt. I 
admit, gentlemen, that if a very strong desire to be 
instrumental and useful in accomplishing a settlement 
of our difficulties with England, which had then risen 
to an alarming height, and appeared to be app roach - 
ing a crisis — if this be a personal motive, then I con- 
fess myself to have been influenced by a personal 
motive. The imputation of any other personal mo- 
tive, the charge of seeking any selfish advantage, I 
repel with utter scorn. . . . Gentlemen, I thought 
I saw an opportunity of doing the State some service, 
and I ran the risk of the undertaking. I certainly do 
not regret it, and never shall regret it." 1 

In the opinion of Mr. Curtis the real reason why 
Webster made special effort at this point to set him- 
self right with the Whigs was one which for the time 
being he was not free to avow, namely, his desire to 
be in a position to advise and control his party upon 
the question of Texas. It may be supposed that con- 
siderations of political expediency were not wholly 
without their bearing, but it undoubtedly is true that 
the seriousness of the Texan issue was very keenly felt. 
When, in 1836, that issue was thrust into the fore- 
ground by the success of the Texan revolution Webster 
predicted that it would introduce into the politics of 
the country " new causes of embarrassment and new 
tendencies to dismemberment " ; 2 and throughout the 
succeeding years of intermittent diplomacy and varia- 

1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. II, p. 229 ; " Writings and Speeches," 
Vol. Ill, pp. 181-182. 

8 Webster to Everett, May 7, 1836. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. II, p. 19. 



328 DANIEL WEBSTER 

tion of policy he found increasing rather than dimin- 
ishing reason for apprehension. In September, 1836, 
the people of Texas voted overwhelmingly for annexa- 
tion to the United States, and the demand for such 
annexation which arose from numerous and influential 
elements in the United States, northern as well as 
southern, was such as to be extremely difficult to re- 
sist. The most that could be obtained, however, dur- 
ing the continuance of the Jackson administration was 
a recognition of the independence of the republic, in 
March, 1837 ; and throughout the four years of Van 
Buren the programme of the annexationists was blocked 
absolutely by the opposition of the President. In 1838 
the Texan offer of annexation was withdrawn, and in 
1839-1840 treaties of friendship were concluded by the 
republic with France, Great Britain, and other Euro- 
pean states. When, in 1841, Webster assumed the 
state portfolio he recognized that the project of annex- 
ation was likely to be revived at auy time, and in 
December of the year mentioned he was not surprised 
to be approached by an envoy of the Texan secretary 
of state bent upon ascertaining the attitude of the new 
Administration toward such a project. The envoy, 
Reily, was given no encouragement, and early in 1842 
he asked of his government that he be relieved. The 
request was granted and another envoy, Van Zandt, 
was sent to Washington to watch and report upon the 
fluctuations of annexation sentiment in both official 
and non-official circles. 

Thus matters stood until after the retirement of 
Webster from the State Department, in May, 1843. A 
few weeks subsequent to that event, however, new 
phases assumed by the Texan situation induced a 
change from a passive to an active attitude on the part 



TEXAS, OKEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 329 

of the Tyler Administration. Through the efforts of 
British and French agents a truce was brought about 
between Texas and Mexico ; almost immediately there- 
after Van Zandt was instructed to inform the govern- 
ment of the United States that the subject of annexa- 
tion was no longer open for discussion ; and rumors 
became widely current to the effect that British influ- 
ence was being employed to bring about the abolition 
of slavery within the republic. The new secretary of 
state, Upshur, became so panic-stricken as to believe 
that Great Britain was engaged in a gigaDtic plot hav- 
ing as its end nothing less than the abolition of slavery 
in all parts of America. The danger in Texas was be- 
lieved to be immediate ; and in order to avert it the 
President and Secretary Upshur resolved upon an im- 
mediate negotiation of a treaty providing for the an- 
nexation of the republic to the United States. The 
negotiations, opened in October, 1843, proceeded slowly 
and in secret, and it was not until April 12th that the 
annexation treaty was signed. In the meantime Up- 
shur, killed in an accident February 28th, had been 
succeeded in the State Department by Calhoun. 

During the winter of 1843-1844 Webster spent some 
weeks in Washington attending to business in the Su- 
preme Court, and while there he became aware of the 
Administration's Texan project, despite the effort 
which was being made to preserve secrecy. Further- 
more, he obtained his information indirectly from Up- 
shur himself. Webster and his successor, notwith- 
standing political differences, were excellent friends. 
In the course of one of their conversations Upshur 
confided to Webster that he disagreed with the Presi- 
dent's policy in such a measure that u he would not 
continue in office a fortnight if he had not a particular 



330 DANIEL WEBSTER 

object to accomplish." The nature of the object was 
not specified, but Webster related subsequently that he 
"felt Texas go through" him and that within two 
days he knew all about the Administration's dealings 
with Van Zandt. Returning to Boston, he called into 
conference his friend Ticknor and disclosed to him 
what he had learned. War, he declared, would be the 
inevitable consequence of an annexation of Texas with- 
out the consent of Mexico. Upon the evils that would 
follow an extension of territory to the southward he 
discoursed eloquently, even passionately, asserting 
that he had been unable to sleep at night and that he 
could think of little else by day. The existence of the 
Union itself, he was certain, would be endangered. 
In the Intelligencer he had published already two 
articles in opposition to annexation, and at his sug- 
gestion a Massachusetts member had introduced in the 
national House of Representatives a resolution to the 
effect that no proposition for the annexation of Texas 
ought to be made or assented to by the United States. 
On April 22, 1844, the Texan treaty was submitted 
by President Tyler to the Senate with an urgent rec- 
ommendation that it be ratified. Nine days later the 
Whig national convention met at Baltimore and nomi- 
nated Clay unanimously, and without a contest, upon 
a platform devoted almost entirely to laudation of the 
candidate and his running-mate, Theodore Freling- 
huysen. In a letter to friends in New Hampshire, 
written at the middle of the winter, Webster had ex- 
pressed the hope that his own name should not be em- 
ployed for the purpose of preventing harmony among 
men whose general political principles were in accord, 
or " for any cause whatever but a conscientious regard 
to the good of the country." It was obvious, he ad- 



TEXAS, OBEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 331 

niitted, that the tendency of opinion among the Whigs 
was at the time " generally and strongly set in another 
direction," i. e., toward Clay, and the general support 
of this candidate was warmly advocated. "The elec- 
tion of the next autumn," he wrote, " must involve, in 
general, the same principles and the same questions 
that belonged to that of 1840. The cause I conceive to 
be the true cause of the country, its paramount pros- 
perity, and all its great interests ; the cause of its 
peace and honor, the cause of good government, true 
liberty, and the preservation and integrity of the Con- 
stitution ; and none should despair of its success." 1 
The events of the months intervening between the 
writing of this letter and the assembling of the Balti- 
more convention fully confirmed the conviction that 
the desire of the party could be met only by the nomi- 
nation of Clay. 

The Democratic convention met also at Baltimore, 
May 27th. In the desire to vindicate the claim of the 
Democracy to the nation's support in 1840 the im- 
minence of the Texan question had been somewhat ob- 
scured and a majority of the delegates came to the 
convention pledged to support the candidacy of Van 
Buren. To the rank and file of the party, however, 
the nomination of an arch-opponent of annexation was 
objectionable in the extreme, and with the aid of the 
two- thirds rule Van Buren was defeated and the nomi- 
nation was bestowed upon the first presidential " dark 
horse ? ' in the history of the country, James K. Polk. 
In the platform it was proclaimed that " the re-occupa- 
tion of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas are 
great American measures, which the convention rec- 

1 Webster to John Warren and others, January 3, 1844. Curtis, 
"Webster," Vol. II, p. 238. 



j 



332 DANIEL WEBSTER 

oniniends to the cordial support of the Democracy of 
the Union." 

On June 8th a vote upon the ratification of the 
Texan treaty was taken in the Senate. Of the twenty - 
nine Whig members, all save one opposed ratification, 
and by a vote of thirty-five to sixteen theproject was lost. 
The issue was thereupon thrown back upon the country, 
and in the campaign which already was under way it 
preponderated as no single question theretofore had 
ever preponderated in a national election. From the 
outset the Democrats had the advantage of a programme 
which was unequivocal upon this all-important issue 
and a candidate heartily in sympathy with this pro- 
gramme. The Whig platform did not so much as 
mention Texas, and the pronouncements upon the 
subject which Clay was driven to make were of such a 
character that they cost the party heavily in both 
North and South. No one recognized more clearly 
than did W r ebster the essential weakness of the Whig 
position. No course was open, however, save to 
support the party and its candidate. Even though 
Clay's attitude upon the Texan question was involved 
in certain obscurities, he was unquestionably opposed 
to annexation under existing conditions ; and upon all 
other important questions of public policy his position 
was entirely satisfactory. In the campaign Webster 
therefore took a part of very considerable activity. 
Of the numerous speeches which he delivered the most 
important were those at Albany (August 27th), Phila- 
delphia (October 1st), and Valley Forge (October 3d). 
The subject to which he devoted most attention was 
the tariff, but he did not hesitate to make allusion to 
the question of Texas and, at Valley Forge especially, 

to argue against the advisability of annexation. His 

■ — " i,i " , 



TEXAS, OKEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 333 

contention was not simply that the extension of slave 
territory was objectionable, but that the area of the 
country was already so vast that any annexation was 
for the present undesirable. ' 

The result of the contest was close. The popular 
vote of the Whigs fell but 38, 000 short of that of the 
Democrats ; that of the Democrats lacked more than 
24,000 of equaling that of the Whigs and the Liberty 
party combined. But of the 275 electoral votes 170 fell 
to Polk, and with them the victory. Inasmuch as the 
votes for the Liberty candidate were cast chiefly by 
men who with but two parties in the field would have 
supported Clay against Polk, it is perhaps not too much 
to say that "the Abolitionists defeated Clay." 2 But 
it does not follow, as some have assumed, that the 
Whigs could have won with Webster as a caudidate. 
His candidacy upon the only sort of a platform upon 
which he could have stood, namely, one declaring 
squarely against the annexation of Texas, would un- 
questionably have attracted mauy votes in Northern 
states which were lost to Clay. On the other hand it 
might well have involved the loss of certain states, 
notably Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
and North Carolina, which were carried by Clay. 

By the outcome of the election the early annexation 
of Texas was rendered inevitable. In his annual 
message of December 3d President Tyler maintained 
that the question, having been left at the previous 
session without settlement, had "referred itself" to 
the people, and that by the election of Polk a control- 

1 For these speeches see " Works of Webster, " Vol. II, pp. 217-293, 
and "Writings and Speeches," Vol. Ill, pp. 217-293; for other 
speeches delivered during the campaign, " Writings and Speeches," 
Vol. XIII, pp. 196-305. 

'Stanwood, " The Presidency," p. 224. 



334 DANIEL WEBSTER 

ling majority of the people, and a majority of the states, 
had pronounced in favor of the annexationist pro- 
gramme ; x and there is no ground upon which the 
validity of this interpretation can be called seriously 
in question. To both the President and the Democratic 
leaders in Congress further delay appeared not only 
unnecessary but dangerous. The opposition was still 
strong, and there was no reason to suppose that the 
two-thirds majority requisite for the ratification of a 
treaty in the Senate could yet be obtained. The plan 
of action hit upon by the annexationists, therefore, was 
one whose execution required the concurrence of but 
a simple majority in the two houses, i. c, that of 
enactment by joint resolution. The procedure was un- 
usual, and by many persons its propriety was called in 
question. But it was simple and certain. The resolu- 
tion in accordance with which the President was 
authorized to offer to Texas the privilege of becoming 
a state of the Union was carried in both houses in 
February, 1845. In July the proposition was accepted 
by a Texan convention, and in October the act of the 
convention was ratified by the people. 

Meanwhile, during the winter of 1844-1845, Webster 
had been elected to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused 
by the retirement of Choate. His term began March 
4, 1845 ; so that when, at the convening of Congress in 
the following December, a proposal was forthcoming 
to complete the Texan transaction by the admission of 
the former republic to statehood he was in a position 
to take part officially in the discussions which ensued. 
He recognized, however, that what had been done 
could not be undone and that resistance to the pro- 

1 Richardson, "Messages and Papers of the Presidents," Vol. IV, 
p. 343. 



TEXAS, OREGON, ELECTION OF 1814 335 

gramme of the Administration was futile. Accordingly, 
when a resolution for the admission of Texas passed 
the House and came up for consideration in the Senate 
he confined his efforts to a very brief speech, December 
22d, stating his objections to the entire line of policy 
of which the measure in hand was but the culminating 
stroke. He declared that he had long been of the 
opinion that it was " of very dangerous tendency and 
doubtful consequences" to enlarge the boundaries of 
the country, and that he had ' l always wished that this 
country should exhibit to the nations of the earth the 
example of a great, rich, and powerful republic, which 
is not possessed by a spirit of aggrandizement. " He 
asserted, furthermore, that while he was disposed to 
uphold in every respect the existing arrangements and 
compromises of the Constitution, he should never be in 
favor of the admission to the Union of states possess- 
ing the peculiar rights in respect to slavery which had 
been accorded the original members of the Union, and 
he avowed the opinion that if Texas were to be brought 
into the Union at all the act ought to have been per- 
formed through the medium of diplomatic adjustment, 
sanctioned by treaty. " I agree," he affirmed in clos- 
ing, "with the unanimous opinion of the legislature 
of Massachusetts ; I agree with the great mass of her 
people ; I reaffirm what I have said and written during 
the last eight years, at various times, against this 
annexation. I here record my own dissent and oppo- 
sition ; and I here express and place on record also 
the dissent and protest of the state of Massachusetts." l 
The protest was recorded ; but, as was entirely expected, 
it was without effect upon the actual drift of events. 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. V, p. 59; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IX, p. 59. 



336 DANIEL WEBSTER 

The resolution for admission, passed in both branches 
of Congress by large majorities, was approved by the 
President December 29th ; and, February 19, 1846, the 
state government of Texas was formally installed. 

The expansionist sentiment by which the country was 
swept during the decade 1840-1850 found an outlet not 
alone toward the south but also toward the northwest. 
In the same paragraph in which the " re- annexation" 
of Texas was demanded the Democratic platform of 
1844 called insistently for the " re-occupation " of Ore- 
gon, affirming that the title of the United States to the 
whole of the Oregon territory was i l clear and unques- 
tionable," and that no portion of the territory " ought 
to be ceded to England or any other power." And in 
his inaugural address President Polk reiterated the 
declarations of his party, asserting that the just claim 
of the United States extended northward to the par- 
allel 54° 40' and making it clear that it would be a part 
of his policy to see that the claim was enforced. 
Within the broad expanse of the Oregon country 
there had appeared at one time or another four 
claimants — Spain, Russia, Great Britain, and the 
United States. By the Spanish treaty of 1819, fixing 
the forty-second parallel as the northern boundary of 
New Mexico, one of the four was eliminated. Another, 
Russia, yielded her claims in treaties of 1824 and 1825 
with the United States and Great Britain respectively, 
accepting 54° 40' as her southern limit. Between the 
other two claimants an agreement for joint occupation, 
entered into first in 1818, was continued throughout a 
period of twenty-eight years, upon the understanding 
that either party had a right to terminate the agree- 
ment on twelve months' notice. In 1824, and again 
in 1826, the United States proposed the settlement of 



TEXAS, OBEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 337 

the Oregon question by the simple extension of the 
forty-ninth parallel to the Pacific. But Great Britain 
held out for the Columbia Eiver as a boundary, and no 
compromise was found possible. During the period 
of the Van Buren and Tyler administrations both the 
British and Americau populations in Oregon under- 
went a considerable increase, and the question of the 
eventual sovereignty of the territory became rapidly 
more pressing. It was the j udgment of Webster that 
the forty-ninth parallel should be made the boundary. 
When, however, in 1842 he proposed that the subject 
should be included in the treaty of Washington he 
found that nothing could be done, because Lord Ash- 
burton had received no instructions upon it. 

As the issue grew in public interest the extreme 
position maintained by the British authorities operated 
to drive more zealous Americans to a corresponding 
extreme, and by 1844 the sentiment " 54° 40' or fight" 
was so popular that the Democrats were able to em- 
ploy it with the most telling effect in the campaign. 
Upon the establishment of the Polk Administration 
the effort to bring about an adjustment by negotia- 
tion was renewed. July 12, 1845, Secretary Buchanan 
again offered the line of the forty-ninth parallel. Two 
weeks later, however, the offer was refused by the 
British minister, Pakenham, without consultation with 
his government, and in terms that were rather un- 
necessarily curt. A month later the proposal was 
withdrawn, the negotiation was broken off, and the 
right of the United States to the whole of the territory 
in question was reasserted. So intense was the feeling 
upon both sides that the two nations were clearly upon 
the brink of war. On November 7th Webster deliv- 
ered a powerful speech to his fellow-townsmen gathered 



' 



338 DANIEL WEBSTER 



1 



in Faneuil Hall in which he contended for the forty- 
ninth parallel as the natural boundary and urged that, 
despite the critical character of the situation, peace 
could be, and must be, preserved. The speech was 
translated into most of the languages of Europe and 
was widely influential in inclining the continental 
peoples to regard as necessary and just the solution 
which in it was proposed. 

At the opening of the first session of the Twenty- 
ninth Congress, December 2, 1845, the President sent 
in a message reasserting forcefully the claim to the 
whole of the contested territory, and recommending 
that provision be made by law for the year's notice to 
Great Britain which was required to terminate the con- 
vention of 1827. On December 15th General Cass in- 
troduced in the Senate resolutions calling for an in- 
vestigation of the state of the national defenses, assign- 
ing as a reason for such an investigation the pending- 
dispute with Great Britain relative to Oregon ; and 
three days later a joint resolution was introduced by 
Senator Allen of Ohio meeting the President's desire 
by authorizing him to give notice to Great Britain 
forthwith. On the ground that they might have a 
tendency to create unnecessary alarm, Webster spoke 
against the Cass resolutions ; and in opposition to the 
Allen resolution, which was before the Senate through 
several months, although not formally discussed un- 
til February 10, 1846, he took occasion, February 26th, 
to speak at some length. Amended to provide that 
the President should give notice to Great Britain at 
his discretion, the Allen resolution was adopted by 
Congress and approved by the President in April, 
and on May 21st the notice was given. 

In the meantime, however, negotiations had been re- 



TEXAS, OKEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 339 

sunied. Pakenhani's summary rejection of the pro- 
posal of the forty-ninth parallel was disavowed by the 
British ministry, and although much valuable time was 
wasted in the effort to induce the United States formally 
to renew the offer, in the end Great Britain herself trans- 
mitted to Washington the draft of a treaty in which the 
parallel named was stipulated as a boundary. Such an 
overture Webster, through private channels, had urged 
the British authorities to make, and there is reason for 
thinking that his suggestions had been very influential. 
Somewhat taken aback by the unexpected turn of the 
affair, the President departed from custom and asked of 
the Senate its opinion of the proposed treaty before giv- 
ing or withholding his own asseut. The advice which 
he received, namely, to make the most of the oppor- 
tunity, was followed, and the treaty, forthwith submit- 
ted formally to the Senate, was ratified by a vote of 
forty-one to fourteen. The confidence which Webster 
had entertained from the first that the exercise of 
patience would make possible a fair and peaceful com- 
promise was abundantly sustained. 

During the course of the debates upon the Oregon 
question the treaty of Washington was alluded to sev- 
eral times in a disparaging manner, and the charge 
was made that in the negotiation of that instrument 
Webster had yielded territory which belonged prop- 
erly to the United States. One member of the House 
of Bepresentatives, in particular, Charles J. Iugersoll 
of Pennsylvania, angered by Webster's friendliness 
toward Great Britaiu, allowed himself to indulge in a 
savage attack upon the Ashburton negotiation, upon 
the treaty terminating it, and upon Webster's per- 
sonal ability and integrity. And certain of the 
charges which were made— especially that the counsel 



340 DANIEL WEBSTER 

of McLeod was paid by the United States, that the 
Attorney-General of the United States was directed to 
take charge of McLeod' s defense, and that Webster 
had written to Governor Seward, of New York, that if 
McLeod were not released the city of New York 
would be "laid in ashes " — were repeated by Daniel 
S. Dickinson of New York in the Senate. In the ag- 
gregate, the charges were equivalent to an accusation 
of gross malfeasance in office. Exasperated by the 
conduct of his opponents, Webster introduced a resolu- 
tion, March 20th, asking that the entire correspondence 
pertaining to the Ashburton negotiation be laid before 
Congress. The resolution was adopted, the corre- 
spondence was brought in, and on April 6th and 7th 
Webster delivered the very lengthy, carefully pre- 
pared, and virile speech known commonly as the 
" Defense of the Treaty of Washington." So intense 
was the speaker's indignation that for almost the only 
time during his entire public career he permitted him- 
self to indulge in personal invective. He refuted 
completely the charges bearing upon the McLeod af- 
fair, explained and defended the treaty of 1842, omit- 
ting to speak of no one of the half-dozen important 
issues which entered into the negotiation of that 
agreement, and challenged his hearers and the country 
at large to show that any essential interest had been 
neglected or that anything had been done ' ' to tarnish 
the lustre of the American name and character." 1 

Under the attack which was leveled against him 
Ingersoll waxed yet more bitter. Determined to fol- 
low up the contest, he now obtained from subordinates 
in the State Department certain papers which he pro- 

111 Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 78-150; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IX, pp. 78-150. 



TEXAS, OKEGON, ELECTION OF 1844 341 

fessed to regard as proofs of Webster's misdemeanors 
and introduced a resolution calling for an account of 
all payments from the secret service fund, for all cor- 
respondence pertaining to the McLeod case, and for a 
variety of other documentary materials. The resolu- 
tion was adopted, but the President replied to the call 
of the House by saying that he did not feel justified 
in violating a fixed practice by revealing the uses of 
the secret service fund, and accordingly the object 
which Ingersoll sought was not attained. In the Sen- 
ate a resolution of similar purport was defeated al- 
most unanimously. Ingersoll, however, reiterated his 
charges and insisted that they were susceptible of 
proof. Eeduced to simplest form, they were (1) that 
Webster had violated all precedent by taking into his 
possession the fund for contingent expenses, (2) that 
he had used a portion of this fund for corrupt party 
purposes, and (3) that he had left office indebted to 
that fund and had not been able to make a settlement 
until after he had been two years out of the State De- 
partment. Following prolonged and embittered de- 
bate the charges were referred for investigation to two 
select committees. Ex-President Tyler appeared vol- 
untarily before these committees to testify in Web- 
ster's behalf, and when, in June, 1846, the reports 
were brought in they showed that, while Webster dur- 
ing his tenure of the secretaryship of state had been 
grossly careless in the handling of his accounts, all 
vouchers had been made up eventually, and of the im- 
proper use of funds there was no evidence whatsoever. 
The reports were laid upon the table and no further 
action was taken. 1 As is remarked by one writer, this 

1 For interesting correspondence relating to the Ingersoll charges 
see Van Tyne, " Letters of Daniel Webster," pp. 309-324. 



342 DANIEL WEBSTER 

rather sorry affair is of interest now ' ' merely as show- 
ing how deeply rooted was Mr. Webster's habitual 
carelessness in money matters, even when it was liable 
to expose him to very grave imputations, and what a 
very dangerous man he was to arouse and put on the 
defensive." 1 

By accepting at this time an annuity consisting of 
the interest on a fund of thirty-seven thousand dollars 
raised for his use by a number of Massachusetts friends 
and admirers, Webster laid himself open to a charge 
of another sort — that, namely, of having become the 
pensioned agent of New England men of wealth, and 
especially of the manufacturing interests. There is no 
evidence that any one of the contributors to the fund 
expected to derive from the gift any personal benefit ; 
likewise there is no reason to think that Webster re- 
garded himself thereafter as any less free than before 
to speak and to vote independently. And it must be 
remembered that two generations ago the subsidizing 
of public men in some such manner was, if not more 
common, at least more open, than to-day. Granted, 
however, that the man of ability who cuts himself off 
by a career of public service from the affluence attain- 
able by other men is entitled to some sort of compen- 
sation, it remains a serious question of ethics as to 
whether he may honorably become the beneficiary of 
private munificence. To do so, even in Webster's 
time, meant to incur a certain amount of criticism. 
To do so to-day would mean irreparable loss of dignity 
and reputation. 

1 Lodge, " Webster," p. 270. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE MEXICAN WAR AND THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 

During the later suninier of 1846 Webster partici- 
pated with some vigor in the debates which preceded 
the enactment of fresh legislation upon the two closely 
related subjects of the tariff and the independent 
treasury. Following the establishment of the Polk 
Administration the secretary of the treasury, Eobert J. 
Walker, submitted to Congress, in December, 1815, a 
comprehensive report recommending the adoption of a 
revenue tariff based upon ad valorem rather than spe- 
cific duties, and on April 14, 1846, an elaborate meas- 
ure framed in accordance with this recommendation 
was introduced in the House of Representatives. 
When the bill came before the Senate Webster spoke 
upon it at much length, admonishing the Administra- 
tion and its adherents not to make this "leap in the 
dark, in the early part of its career, unnecessarily, in 
the midst of a war, a war of which no one can see the 
end, and of which no man can now reckon the ex- 
pense." 1 The bill was passed, and July 30th it was 
approved by the President. But prior to its enact- 
ment Webster was instrumental in causing to be 
stricken from it an extraordinary provision whereby 
in cases of undervaluation with intent to defraud the 
goods so undervalued should be seized and sold, the 
importer being paid the value of the goods as rated i n 
his invoice, with five per cent, in addition. 

111 Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 161-243; "Writings and 
Speeches, 1 ' Vol. IX, pp. 161-243, 



344 DANIEL WEBSTER 

After five years of fiscal chaos succeeding the aboli- 
tion of the independent treasury system by the Whigs 
in 1841, a law reestablishing that system was carried 
through Congress and, August 6, 1846, approved by 
the President. This measure also Webster felt bound 
to oppose, and in remarks which he made upon it a 
few days prior to the final vote in the Senate he de- 
fended his opposition upon the ground that the pro- 
posed change would embarrass seriously the fiscal 
operations of the government and recommended that 
further consideration of the subject be postponed to 
the next Congress. 1 The system to which return was 
now made proved, however, not so disadvantageous as 
had been predicted ; in fact, until the rise of the un- 
usual circumstances occasioned by the Civil War, it was 
operated with substantial success. 

Meanwhile the annexation of /Texas had borne its 
inevitable fruit and the United States was at war with 
Mexico. Diplomatic relations between the two coun- 
tries were severed as early as March, 1845 ; in June of 
the same year General Taylor was ordered to advance 
into Texas, and in August he did so ; during the 
winter of 1845-1846 the unsuccessful mission of John 
Slidell demonstrated the futility of further attempts at 
negotiation ; on January 13, 1846, Taylor was in- 
structed to advance to the Rio Grande ; on April 24th 
the first skirmish between Taylor's troops and the Mex- 
icans took place ; and on May 11th President Polk 
transmitted to Congress the famous message avowing 
that American blood had been shed on American soil 
and recommending an immediate declaration of war. 
The recommendation was carried into effect forthwith 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 244-252; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IX, pp. 244-252. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 345 

by overwhelming majorities in both houses. It hap- 
pened that at the time when war was declared Webster 
was not in Washington. He therefore voted neither 
for nor against the declaration. Had he been in his 
seat, he would undoubtedly have voted in opposition, 
as did his Massachusetts colleague, John Davis. 1 He 
regarded the annexation of Texas by the United States 
as insufficient cause for war upon the part of Mexico. 
At the same time, he had predicted that from the au- 
nexation a war would spring, and it was only the sud- 
denness of the declaration of May 12th that surprised 
him. On receipt of the intelligence he hastened to the 
capital, and two days subsequently he was in his seat. 
The position which Webster maintained throughout 
the Mexican contest was that of a candid, although by 
no means factious or relentless, critic of the policies of 
the Administration. After the actual outbreak of 
hostilities, and when it was made apparent that only 
through the President's policy of "conquering a 
peace " could normal relations between the two coun- 
tries be restored, he was not disinclined to advocate the 
prosecution of the contest to a decisive conclusion. 
The President's course, none the less, in precipitating 
a situation which rendered war inevitable was criti- 
cized as being an infraction of the power of Congress 
to declare war, and the method which the Administra- 
tion employed in the raising of troops was more than 
once subjected to unsparing attack. That method 
comprised neither the enlistment of volunteers officered 
by the United States nor the calling into service 
of the militia of the states, but rather the creation 

1 Davis and Thomas Clayton of Delaware were the only senators 
who voted against the declaration. Three members, including 
Calhoun, refrained from voting. 



316 DANIEL WEBSTEE 

of a nondescript body of troops, consisting of vol- 
unteers organized into regiments and officered by the 
states. The efficiency of a force raised after this man- 
ner was called in serious question, aud it was main- 
tained that the process could not be squared with the 
grant of military powers conferred in the Consti- 
tution. 

The aspect of the war which, however, aroused 
deepest apprehension was that relating to the probable 
extension of territory ou the southwest and the effects 
of such extension upon the status of slavery. Through- 
out the earlier portion of his public career Webster 
had been known as one of the most outspoken of op- 
ponents of the " peculiar institution. " In 1819, when 
the Missouri question was pending, he had served as 
chairman of a committee of a public meeting in Boston 
by which was adopted a memorial appealing to " the 
j ustice and the wisdom of the national councils to pre- 
vent the further progress of a great and serious evil." 
In the Plymouth oration of 1820 he had denounced the 
African slave trade in sentences of fiery eloquence. 
In the debate with Hayne, while avowing that he was, 
and ever had been, of the opinion that the maintenance 
of slavery within the states was a matter of domestic 
policy with which the federal government had noth- 
ing to do, he declared unequivocally his belief that do- 
mestic slavery was "one of the greatest evils, both 
moral and political." During the controversy, opened 
on a serious scale in 1836, over the reception of anti- 
slavery petitions in Congress it fell to him occasionally 
to present such petitions ; and although, like John 
Quincy Adams, the vigilant champion of the right of 
petition in the lower house, he was no abolitionist, he 
was insistent upon the propriety of such of the peti- 



THE MEXICAN WAE 347 

ticms as related, to the District of Columbia and upon 
the imperative necessity of the safeguarding of the 
privilege of petition as guaranteed in the Constitution. 
"More than all," he wrote in 1838, " it is my opinion 
that the citizens of the United States have an unques- 
tionable constitutional right to petition Congress for 
the restraint or abolition of slavery and the slave trade 
within the said District ; and that all such petitions 
being respectfully written, ought to be received, read, 
referred, and considered in the same manner as peti- 
tions on other important subjects are received, read, 
referred, and considered ; and without reproach or re- 
buke to the authors or signers of such petitions." ! 

Against Calhoun's bill of 1837 proposing to author- 
ize postmasters under certain conditions to confiscate 
abolitionist literature deposited in the United States 
mails he spoke and voted, although again from a de- 
sire to defend a constitutional principle rather than 
from sympathy with the abolitionists. "My own 
opinion is," he none the less wrote soon afterward to 
Benjamin Silliman, "that the anti-slavery feeling is 
growing stronger and stronger every day ; and while 
we must be careful to couutenance nothing which vio- 
lates the Constitution or invades the right of others, it 
is our policy, in my opinion, most clearly not to yield 
the substantial truth, for the sake of conciliating those 
whom we never can conciliate, at the expense of the 
loss of the friendship and support of those great masses 
of good men who are interested in the anti -slavery 
cause." 2 

1 Webster to Peck, January 11, 1838. Webster, "Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. II, p. 32. 

2 Webster to Silliman, January 28, 1838. Van Tyne, "Letters 
of Webster," p. 211. 



348 DANIEL WEBSTER 

As his anxiety for the future of the Union increased 
Webster fell back definitely upon the position to 
which he adhered throughout the later portion of his 
life, that, namely, of recognizing the absolute sover- 
eignty of the states in the control of their domestic 
institutions and the claims of the slaveholders to the 
protection of their interests in all respects required by 
the letter or spirit of the Constitution, while at the 
same time opposing with determination the magnify- 
ing of the slavery problem through the admission of 
new slave states or the extension of territory in which 
the holding of slaves should be legal. This position 
was defined with clearness in that portion of the speech 
in Niblo's Garden in 1837 which related to Texas. 
" I frankly avow," he asserted, " my entire unwilling- 
ness to do anything that shall extend the slavery of 
the African race on this continent, or add other slave- 
holding states to the Union. When I say that I re- 
gard slavery in itself as a great moral, social, and 
political evil I only use the language which has been 
adopted by distinguished men, themselves the citizens 
of slaveholding states. I shall do nothing, therefore, 
to favor or encourage its further extension. We have 
slavery already amongst us. The Constitution found 
it in the Union ; it recognized it, and gave it solemn 
guaranties. To the full extent of these guaranties we 
are all bound, in honor, in justice, and by the Con- 
stitution. . . . Slavery, as it exists in the states, 
is beyond the reach of Congress. ... I shall con- 
cur, therefore, in no act, no measure, no menace, no 
indication of purpose, which shall interfere or threaten 
to interfere with the exclusive authority of the several 
states over the subject of slavery as it exists within 
their respective limits. . . . But when we come 



THE MEXICAN WAE 349 

to speak of admitting new states, the subject assumes 
an entirely different aspect." l 

The attitude herein defined was one which was 
shared by an increasing number of Northern people, 
but it was by no means that of the abolitionists, nor 
even of men who, while not identified with the aboli- 
tionist movement, felt more keenly than did Webster 
concerning the moral, non-juristic aspects of the slavery 
problem. There can be no blinking the fact that as 
early as 1838 or 1839 Webster was being charged with 
indifference upon the slavery issue, and even with de- 
liberate subservience to the slavery interests. In 
March, 1838, Adams wrote in his Diary that the Mas- 
sachusetts delegation was truckling to the South to 
court favor for Webster and that Webster himself was 
" tampering with the South on the slavery and the 
Texas question." In 1839 Joshua R. Giddings de- 
clared it " impossible for any man who submitted so 
quietly to the dictation of slavery as Mr. Webster to 
command that influence which was necessary to con- 
stitute a successful politician. " In the secretaryship 
of state it devolved upon Webster upon several oc- 
casions, notably in the Creole case, to defend the 
interests of slaveholders in such a manner as to excite 
especially the indignation of men who denied the obli- 
gation of the national government to protect the alleged 
rights of slaveholders when such rights were imperiled 
upon the high seas or in territory belonging to a 
European power. The principles of law which were 
acted upon in the cases referred to were in all essential 
respects sound, but the effect upon Webster's pop- 
ularity among the more advanced anti-slavery elements 
was disastrous. 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. I, p. 356. 



350 DANIEL WEBSTER 

As lias been observed, the aspect of the Mexican 
war regarding which Webster felt deepest concern was 
the prospect of the acquisition of new territory, en- 
tailing a fresh conflict upon the territorial status of 
slavery. February 1, 1847, while there was pending 
in the House of Representatives a bill to appropriate 
three million dollars to defray any extraordinary ex- 
penses that might be incurred in bringing the war to 
a close, there was introduced a proviso to the effect 
that from all territory subsequently acquired by the 
United States slavery should be forever excluded. 
During the previous year a two-million bill had been 
amended to provide that from all territory which 
might be acquired from Mexico slavery should be 
excluded j but the amendment, although voted in the 
House, had been lost in the Senate. The proviso of 
1847, like its predecessor, was introduced by David 
A. Wilniot, of Pennsylvania^ but in reality it emanated 
from an anti-slavery Democratic congressman from 
Ohio, Jacob Brinkerhoff. Of the utility of such a 
pledge Webster was doubtful. Better by far, it 
seemed to him, would be the policy of avoiding the 
issue altogether by refusing to annex any more terri- 
tory at all. Accordingly, within a fortnight after the 
introduction of the second Wilmot proviso he sub- 
mitted to the Senate two resolutions, one declaring 
that the war with Mexico ought not to be prosecuted 
for the acquisition of territory to form new states, the 
other requiring that the Mexican authorities be in- 
formed that the United States was not seeking the 
dismemberment of the Mexican republic and that she 
was now ready to treat for peace. These resolutions 
did not come to a vote ; but on March 1st a similar 
proposal emanating from a Southern Whig, Berrien 



THE MEXICAN WAK 351 

of Georgia, was rejected, twenty-nine to twenty -four, 
by an exact party division. The Democrats, both 
Northern and Southern, were bent upon the annexation 
of Mexican territory, and no argument could turn 
them from their purpose. Many of the Northern 
members of the party favored the adoption of the 
Wilmot proviso ; but, proviso or no proviso, the 
annexation must take place. By the Southern ele- 
ment the proviso was, of course, opposed. 

Following the rejection of Berrien's resolution Web- 
ster addressed the Senate in words of solemn warning, 
denouncing the equivocal attitude of the Northern 
Democracy which, while ready to concede that there 
ought to be no more slave states, was still insistent 
that the war should terminate in the annexation of 
vast stretches of Southern territory. A golden oppor- 
tunity, it was maintained, had been lost, and through 
the defection of Northern votes. From the opinions 
expressed in the Niblo Garden discourse of 1837 the 
speaker declared he had not swerved. From the first 
he had seen nothing but "evil and danger" to the 
country from the Texan annexation, and now that, as 
a result of a war precipitated by that annexation, it 
was proposed to extend still further the possessions of 
the nation in the southwest he found his worst fears 
confirmed. "We want no extension of territory," he 
declared, "we want no accession of new states. The 
country is already large enough. . . . Sir, I fear 
we are not yet arrived at the beginning of the end [of 
controversy]. I pretend to see but little of the future. 
aud that little affords no gratification. All I can scan 
is contention, strife, and agitation. . . . We are 
suffering to pass the golden opportunity for securing 
harmony and stability of the Constitution. We appear 



352 DANIEL YVEBSTEK 

to me to be rushing upon perils headlong, and with our 
eyes wide open. ' ' l When the Wilinot proviso was moved 
in the Senate as an additional section of the Three Million 
Bill Webster was among those who supported it. It was 
rejected, however, by a vote of thirty-one to twenty-one. 
The bill finally became law with no mention of slavery, 
and the President was left to prosecute the war and to ne- 
gotiate peace unhampered by any legislative restriction. 
During the months of April and May, 1817, Web- 
ster made a long deferred excursion for recreation and 
observation through the Southern seaboard states. At 
Kichmond, Ealeigh, Wilmington, Charleston, Colum- 
bia, and Savannah he was received with unstinted hos- 
pitality, and at a number of dinnersand public meetings 
in his honor he was called upon to deliver addresses. ' 
On account of the excessive heat the plan to visit New 
Orleans was abandoned, but the trip was sufficiently 
extensive to afford that first-hand information regard- 
ing Southern life and institutions in which a majority 
of Northern members of Congress and other men of in- 
fluence were largely or altogether deficient. Eeturning 
to Marshfield, June 8th, the senator spent the ensuing 
summer and autumn in the supervision of his agricul- 
tural interests, with an occasional visit to New York 
or to some New England town in the pursuit of profes- 
sional business. The catarrh by which he had long- 
been troubled became at this point unusually distress- 
ing, and although it yielded in some measure to treat- 
ment and to changes of climate, it remained at all times 
thereafter a source of discomfort and, toward the last, 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. V, p. 261 ; " Writings and Speeches," 
Vol. IX, p. 261. 

2 For these speeches see " Writings and Speeches," Vol. IV, pp. 
67-103. 



THE MEXICAN WAE 353 

of occasional disability. Ketumiiig to Washington for 
the session of 1847-1848, he found himself so preoccu- 
pied with cases in the Supreme Court that he was able 
for a time to take but an incidental part in the pro- 
ceedings of the Senate. The winter was clouded, too, 
by the increasing poor health of his daughter Julia 
(Mrs. Appieton), aud by the receipt, in February, of 
the wholly unexpected news of the death of his son, 
Major Edward Webster, which took place near the city 
of Mexico January 25th. The son, who was but twenty - 
eight years of age, had raised the first company of 
volunteers accepted and organized by his state for the 
present war, and had gone to the front upon the com- 
pletion of his regiment. At Matamoras he had fallen 
ill and his life had been despaired of j but, recovering, 
he had continued for some months in active service, 
until the fatal recurrence of his illness, brought on by 
exposure and over-exertion. 

Visibly depressed, Webster none the less returned, in 
March, 1848, to an active participation in the delibera- 
tions upon the floor of the Senate. On the 17th he 
spoke in opposition to a bill reported by General Cass 
from the Committee on Military Affairs to increase the 
army then engaged in Mexico by raising ten additional 
regiments of troops, and six days later, when the sub- 
ject under consideration was a bill from the House of 
representatives for raising a loan of sixteen million 
dollars, he delivered an extended speech in which the 
causes and objects of the war were subjected to the 
most searching analysis. 1 Six weeks previously the 
devious diplomacy of the American commissioner, 
Nicholas P. Trist, had borne fruit in the conclusion of 

144 Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 271-301; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. X, pp. 3-33. 



354 DANIEL WEBSTER 

a treaty of peace at Guadelupe Hidalgo. By the terms 
of this treaty the Rio Grande River was recognized as 
the boundary of Texas, and Mexico ceded to the United 
States the whole of the vast territories of New Mexico 
and California, in return for a cash payment of fifteen 
million dollars and the assumption by the United 
States of the claims of her citizens upon Mexico. On 
March 10th the treaty was ratified by the Senate by a 
vote of thirty -eight to fourteen. 

Curiously enough, however, warlike preparations 
continued to be pushed. The "All-Mexico" forces, 
represented in the cabinet by Buchanan and Walker, 
were active ; and until the exchange of ratifications 
there was some possibility that Mexico might refuse 1o 
accede to the amendments which had been introduced 
in the treaty by the Senate. The Ten Regiments Bill 
was kept under consideration, and it was understood 
that the proposed sixteen-million loan was intended to 
pave the way for the raising of twenty regiments 
more. In his speech upon the loan bill Webster con- 
tended that the treaty rendered utterly inapt any 
legislation looking toward a prolonging of the war 
and charged that the object of the bill was " patron- 
age, office, the gratification of friends." The war, it 
was maintained, had been waged from the outset for 
the object of creating new states in the southwest, and 
the speaker declared afresh his unalterable opposition 
to this programme, and, indeed, his readiness to op- 
pose the annexation of foreign territory in any quarter 
or under any conceivable circumstance. The issue, 
it was declared, was simply "peace, with no new 
states, keeping our own money ourselves, or war till 
new states shall be acquired, and vast sums paid." ' 
1 "Works of Webster," Vol. V, p. 283. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 355 

Eventually, the exchange of ratifications with the 
Mexican Government, May 30th, brought definite as- 
surance of peace, and likewise of the annexation 
which the Administration and its friends were seek- 
ing. In the meantime Webster had returned to Bos- 
ton, where at the close of April he was called upon 
to follow to the tomb, within the space of a single 
week, the remains of his daughter Julia and those 
of his son Edward. Of his five children but one, 
Daniel Fletcher, now survived. 

As the election of 1848 approached it became apparent 
that the contest would turn almost wholly upon issues 
created by the war with Mexico. The problems of the 
Democrats were comparatively simple, for although 
the unity of the party was impaired by factional strife 
in New York, the nomination of General Cass for the 
presidency was virtually assured in advance and the 
framing of a platform affirming the justice and necessity 
of the Mexican war, condemning opposition to it, and 
endorsing the record of the Polk Administration af- 
forded little or no difficulty. The task of the Whigs 
was more complicated, and in the end it was performed 
with indifferent success. Of possible candidates there 
were several. Clay was still in the field, and although 
his repeated defeats had led many of his former ad- 
herents to the conclusion that he could not be elected, 
he was able to command a large and influential 
following. General Scott was another possibility, and 
another was Webster. Still others were Judge McLean 
and John M. Clayton. Long, however, in advance of 
the assembling of the Whig convention at Philadelphia, 
June 7, 1848, it became clear that the candidate most 
likely to be successful was General Taylor, whose 
active service during the earlier portion of the war had 



356 DANIEL WEBSTER 

enabled him to supplant Scott in the admiration of the 
hero-loving public. The growing popularity of Taylor 
was viewed by Webster with alarm, not alone because 
he was himself a receptive candidate, but because he 
disapproved the selection of military men for public 
office. But as early as April, 1847, he predicted 
Taylor's nomination. "The probability now is," he 
wrote to his sou, "that General Taylor will come in 
President with a general rush. He would, certainly, 
were the election now to come on. It is in the nature 
of mankind to carry their favor toward military 
achievement. No people yet have ever been found to 
resist that tendency. ' ' 1 Gradually during the winter 
of 1847-1818 the movement for Taylor acquired organ i 
zation. On the part of the managers it was believed 
that with Taylor as a candidate the party could sweep 
the country, and it was assumed that under no other 
condition could success be hoped for. The fact that 
Taylor had never been identified with the Whig party 
— that, indeed, if he had political principles they were 
entirely unknown — was not permitted to stand in the 
way. It was a part of the original plan that the ticket 
should be assured of added strength by associating 
Webster with Taylor as a candidate for the vice- presi- 
dency ; but the proposal, involving as it did little less 
than insult, was spurned by Webster and his friends 
with ill-disguised contempt. The presidency alone 
was Webster's ambition, and in any case he could not 
have assented to the candidacy of Taylor, as accept- 
ance of the plan would have obliged him to do. 

It was Webster's misfortune, throughout the pre- 
liminaries of the contest for the nomination, to be the 

1 Webster to Fletcher Webster, April 25, 1847. Webster, 
"Private Correspond enoe," Vol. II, p. 239. 



THE MEXICAN WAE 357 

victim of well-meaning but tactless friends. Thus at 
the end of January, 1848, a group of his supporters in 
New York, thinking to check the progress of the move- 
ment for Clay, and without consulting Webster, lent 
their support to a call for a public meeting in behalf 
of the nomination of Taylor. To Webster the act 
appeared a grave tactical error, and to one of the 
number he wrote reproachfully that as things were 
going the forthcoming convention would have to choose 
between but two candidates, Clay and Taylor, and that 
unless Taylor should make a public avowal of Whig 
principles Clay would certainly be the nominee. 1 
During the spring, state conventions and mass.meetings, 
especially in the Southern states, made demand for the 
nomination of Taylor, and in many quarters enthusiasts 
threatened to run the General as a candidate, whatever 
might be the action of the party convention. Besieged 
with requests, Taylor at length indicated in a letter, 
which was made public, that if nominated by the 
Whigs he would not refuse to run, provided he should 
be forced to make no pledges. In another communica- 
tion he avowed that he was a Whig, " but not an ultra 
Whig." 

When the convention assembled General Taylor was 
nominated on the fourth ballot, and with him was 
associated as vice-presidential candidate Millard Fill- 
more of New York. On the first and second ballots 
Webster received twenty -two votes, on the third seven- 
teen, and on the fourth fourteen. With the exception 
of one member who came to the convention as a sup- 
porter of Taylor, the Massachusetts delegation accorded 
him its steadfast support. The convention appointed 

1 Webster to Blatchford, January 30, 1848. Curtis, " Webster, " 
Vol. II, p. 336. 



358 DANIEL WEBSTER 

no committee on resolution and adjourned without 
formulating any statement of principles whatsoever — 
a course which was regarded by Webster and many 
of his fellow-partisans with extreme disfavor. The 
party managers, however, were counting upon a victory 
to be achieved through the personal popularity of the 
nominee, and from their point of view the enunciation 
of principles could but be productive of disagreement 
and defeat. By the action of the convention Webster 
was grievously disappointed. His heart was set upon 
the attainment of the presidency, and neither now nor 
later was he able to perceive how utterly impossible of 
realization was his ambition. With the nomination of 
Taylor it became necessary for him to decide upon the 
course which he should pursue throughout the cam- 
paign. As appeared repeatedly in private conversation 
and correspondence, he was disgusted with the Whig 
nominee, the Whig management, even the Whig party 
itself. At the same time, he neither desired nor could 
afford to cast in his lot with the Free-Soilers, and the 
Democratic ticket he, of course, could not by any 
possibility support. " I shall endeavor," he wrote to 
his son a week after the adjournment of the convention, 
"to steer my boat with discretion, but it is evident 
that I must say something, or else it will be said for 
me by others. And I can see no way but acquiescence 
in Taylor's nomination ; not enthusiastic support, nor 
zealous affection ; but acquiescence, or forbearance 
from opposition." 1 "It seems to me I must not," he 
wrote three days later, "in consistency, abandon the 
support of Whig principles. My own reputation will 
not allow of this. I cannot be silent without being 



i. 



1 Webster to Fletcher Webster, June 16, 1848. Van Tyne, 
Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 368, 



THE MEXICAN WAR 359 

reproached, when such as Cass is pressed upoii the 
country. ... I think the safest way is to over- 
look the nomination, as not being the main thing, and 
to continue to maintain the Whig cause. " l To men 
who urged that he support the movement of the Free- 
Soilers he turned a deaf ear. "These Northern pro- 
ceedings," he wrote to his son, "can come to nothing 
useful. . . . The men are all low in their objects." 
And to a Massachusetts friend he wrote, following the 
nomination of Van Buren by the Free-Soil convention 
at Buffalo : " It is utterly impossible for me to support 
the Buffalo nomination. I have no confidence in Mr. 
Van Buren, not the slightest. I would much rather 
trust General Taylor than Mr. Van Buren, even on 
this very question of slavery, for I believe that General 
Taylor is an honest man and I am sure he is not so 
much committed on the wrong side as I know Mr. Van 
Buren to have been for fifteen years." 2 

For a time Webster held aloof, but before the close 
of the campaign he permitted himself to take part, in 
a guarded manner, in the canvass for Taylor. On 
September 1st he made a notable address to his 
neighbors and fellow-townsmen at Marshfield, and 
October 24th he spoke in Faneuil Hall to a represent- 
ative gathering of Whigs of Boston and vicinity. Iu 
the Marshfield address he declared that Taylor's nomi- 
nation had been dictated by the '-sagacious, wise, far- 
seeing doctrine of availability," and that "the nomina- 
tion was one not fit to be made." At the same time, 
he admitted that the nominee was a man of bravery 
and integrity, whose conduct since his nomination had 

1 Webster to Fletcher Webster, June 19, 1848. Van Tyue, 
"Letters of Daniel Webster," p. 369. 
'Webster to Hoar, August 23, 1848. Ibid., p. 372, 



360 DANIEL WEBSTER 

been beyond reproach, and he conceded that, taking 
the General at his word, he might be considered a 
Whig. The alternative being Cass, with the certainty 
of the admission of more slave states, or Taylor, with 
a possibility of the avoiding of such a calamity, Web- 
ster declared that he could but vote for the latter, and 
he advised his friends to do the same. In the Faneuil 
Hall speech he expressed his confidence not only that 
General Taylor was a Whig but that, if elected, he 
would surround himself with a Whig cabinet and 
"honestly and faithfully adopt and pursue Whig 
principles and Whig measures." ! 

At the close of a somewhat spiritless campaign it ap- 
peared that the confidence of General Taylor's sup- 
porters had not been misplaced. The Whigs were 
successful, even though by no wide margin. Taylor's 
popular majority over Cass was approximately 140,000, 
while his electoral majority was but thirty-six, so that 
had either New York or Pennsylvania thrown its sup- 
port to the Democratic candidate he would have been 
elected. Of members of the House of Representatives 
the Democrats elected 112, the Whigs but 105. A Free- 
Soil group of thirteen held the balance of power. The 
outcome of the election, however, meant little. The 
Whigs were returned to power, but they brought with 
them into office no sharply defined principles, and 
only the future could reveal what their policies would 
be. As one writer has put it, practically the only 
thing which the election decided was that " a Whig 
general should be made president because he had done 
effective work in carrying on a Democratic war." 5 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. II, p. 475. For the speeches at 
Marshfield and in Fanenil Hall see " Writings and Speeches," Vol. 
IV, pp. 123-174. 

2 Garrison, " Westward Extension," p. 284. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 361 

The success of the Whigs raised at once the question 
of Webster's attitude toward, and his relations with, 
the forthcoming Administration. Notwithstanding his 
well-known opinion of Taylor's nomination, he had 
been influential in holding in line the malcontents of 
the party, and his eminence was such that he seemed 
clearly to be marked out for a diplomatic, cabinet, or 
other important appointment. Throughout the winter 
following the election Taylor remained at his Louisiana 
home, and, in the lack of definite information regard- 
ing his plans, the public was obliged to content itself 
with speculation. In large degree the making up of 
the cabinet was left to the party leaders who had en- 
gineered the General's nomination, and Webster, not 
being among these, was never so much as consulted. 
He stood readv to tender his advice, but he was not 
called upon, and he scorned to obtrude. To the sug- 
gestion which came from many quarters that he should 
himself become a member of the cabinet he replied 
that he had no reason either to expect or to desire an 
appointment of the kind. "I am old, and poor, and 
proud," he wrote to a New York friend. " All these 
things beckon me to retirement, to take care of my- 
self — and, as I cannot act the first part, to act 
none." l 

Three weeks prior to the inauguration he wrote to the 
same correspondent that he was certain that it was not 
the purpose of the President-elect to offer him a cabi- 
net post, and that even if such an offer were to be 
made it could not be accepted. The reasons advanced 
for unwillingness to assume a portfolio, should it be 
offered, were several. One was the irksomeness of 

•Webster to Blatchford, December 5, 1848. Cnrtis, "Webster," 
Vol. II, p. 351. 



362 DANIEL WEBBTEK 

the labors involved. Another was the feeling that 
there was still grave doubt as to what the real char- 
acter of the Administration would be. A third was 
the consideration that, being the senior of the Presi- 
dent in age, long experienced in public affairs, and 
himself an aspirant to the presidency, Webster felt 
that he could best preserve his own dignity by declin- 
ing to fill a subordinate place in the executive branch 
of the government. Finally, it was pointed out that 
the practical difficulty of deciding between his own 
friends and the friends of Taylor in the making of ap- 
pointments would be embarrassing in the extreme. 
"It is clear, therefore," he concluded, "that my true 
position is a position of respect, friendship, and sup- 
port of the incoming Administration ; but not a posi- 
tion in which I should be called upon to take part in 
the distribution of its offices and patronage." 1 

The attitude of benevolent neutrality thus assumed 
was maintained consistently throughout the sixteen 
months of Taylor's tenure of the presidency. On 
May 18, 1850, Webster was able to write: "I feel 
neither indifferent nor distant toward our good Presi- 
dent. He is an honest man, and a good Whig, and I 
wish well to his administration, for his sake and the 
country's. But what can I do? He never consults 
me, nor asks my advice ; nor does any one of his cabi- 
net except Mr. Meredith. ... I shall support 
cordially the President's measures whenever I can; 
but I have been in public life some time longer than 
the President or any of his advisers, and suppose I 
shall not be much blamed if on great public questions 
I feel as much confidence in my own judgment as I do 

1 Webster to Blatehford, February 16, 1848. Curtis, "Web- 
ster,'' Vol. II, p. 358. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 363 

in theirs. Personally I esteem the President and like 
him very well." 1 

In the meantime the interest of the country was fast 
becoming centred upon the titanic contest which had 
begun in Congress over the organization of the terri- 
tories acquired from Mexico. In the Faneuil Hall 
speech of 1848 Webster had made a supreme effort to 
thrust aside the issue of slavery and to revive the 
questions of the tariff and the sub-treasury. Yet no 
one knew better than he that the slavery question 
could not be kept in the background ; and when, at 
the convening of the Thirtieth Congress for its last 
session in December, 1848, President Polk declared in 
his message that the acquisition of the Mexican terri- 
tories had created " a domestic question which seri- 
ously threatens to disturb the harmony and successful 
operation of our system, 7 ' he but admitted what 
Webster had declared from the outset would be the 
consequence of the annexations. The course urged 
upon Congress in the message was the extension of the 
line of the Missouri Compromise westward to the 
Pacific. 

During the present session, and throughout the en- 
suing period of controversy, the problem of the status 
of slavery in the newly acquired territories was found 
to be susceptible of five possible solutions. At the 
one extreme was the contention of Calhoun and other 
advanced exponents of the slavery interests that in 
New Mexico and California, as in all other territories 
acquired by the blood and treasure of the entire 
country, slavery must be not only permitted but pro- 
tected ; otherwise prospective settlers whose property 

1 Webster to J. P. Hall, May 18, 1850. Van Tyne, " Letters of 
Webster," p. 412. 



364 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

happened to be in the form of slaves would be dis- 
criminated against. At the other extreme stood the 
principle of the Wilmot proviso, namely, that slavery 
in newly acquired territory should be prohibited irrev- 
ocably by federal law. Between these two courses of 
action lay three others of a more moderate character. 
One was that advocated by President Polk, namely, 
the simple extension to the Mexican territories of the 
division line adopted in 1820 in relation to the Louisi- 
ana Purchase. A second was the policy first warmly 
advocated by General Cass, and now championed most 
prominently by Stephen A. Douglas, — that of permit- 
ting the inhabitants of the territories to decide for 
themselves whether or not they would have slavery. 
This policy was, of course, that of popular, or 
" squatter/' sovereignty. A third policy contem- 
plated the inhibition of the territorial legislatures by 
Congress from the enactment of any law upon the sub- 
ject of slavery, leaving the status of the institution to 
be determined entirely by the territorial courts. At 
the time of their annexation New Mexico and Cali- 
fornia were, both legally and actually, free soil ; but 
the question of the immediate effect of the annexation 
upon their domestic institutions, no less than that of 
the proper course to be pursued in the future, was one 
upon which there was apparently hopeless difference 
of opinion. An effort in the summer of 1848 to make 
incidental provision for the organization of the 
Mexican cession in a measure relating primarily to 
the Oregon territory failed. Oregon was organized as 
a free territory, but the question of New Mexico and 
California was postponed. 

During the session which began December 4, 1848, 
this question took precedence of all others. In the 



THE MEXICAN WAR 365 

Senate Douglas introduced a bill erecting the whole of 
the territory acquired under the treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo into a single state ; but the Judiciary Com- 
mittee, to which the measure was referred, reported 
adversely and the proposal failed. February 22, 1849, 
Webster introduced a bill authorizing military govern- 
ment and the continuance of existing laws in the terri- 
tories and postponing still further a permanent settle- 
ment. This proposal also failed. Still another measure 
was introduced undertaking to extend the Constitution 
to the territories, and also to extend to them certain 
revenue laws of the United States. The discussion of 
this proposition was rendered especially notable by a 
clash which took place between Webster and Calhoun 
upon the question of whether or not the Constitution 
extended to the territories ex propria vigore. It was 
the contention of Calhoun that the Constitution did so 
extend and of Webster that it did not. The advantage 
of the argument lay clearly with Webster. The ses- 
sion closed without the enactment of any measure re- 
lating to the territories, save one extending to them 
the federal revenue laws and creating in them a col- 
lection district. 

At the establishment of the administration of 
President Taylor, in March, 1849, nothing was clearer 
to thoughtful men than that the slavery issue was 
likely at any time to precipitate a national crisis. In 
the first place, the discovery of gold in the Sacramento 
Valley in January, 1848, had resulted in a mad rush 
of fortune-hunters and settlers to California, creating 
an unexpected need for an immediate and definite 
organization of that region for purposes of government. 
In the second place, there had arisen a group of other, 
and more or less unrelated, slavery questions which 



366 DANIEL WEBSTER 

were pressing ever more seriously for solution. The 
most urgent of these arose from the demand of the 
South for a more effective fugitive slave law, but 
others of importance related to the abolition of the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, the adjust- 
ment of the disputed boundary between Texas and 
Xew Mexico, and the assumption by the United States 
of the public debt of Texas. In September, 1849, the 
inhabitants of California, taking matters into their 
own hands, held a convention, adopted a constitution 
prohibiting slavery, set up a state government, and 
prepared to apply for admission to the Union. And 
when, in December, the Thirty-first Congress as- 
sembled for its first session, senators and representa- 
tives from California were in Washington ready to 
take their seats as soon as the necessary formalities 
should have been complied with. The boundaries of 
the prospective state were such as to render impracti- 
cable one of the solutions of the territorial question 
which has been mentioned, that, namely, of extending 
to the Pacific the line of the Missouri Compromise ; 
for this line would cut squarely across the proposed 
state. 

During the early weeks of the session feeling ran 
high, both in Congress and throughout the country. 
A determined contest over the speakership of the 
House, occupying three weeks, by no means bet- 
tered the situation ; while state legislatures debated 
sharply, and threats and prophecies of secession were 
heard on every hand. The outcome was highly prob- 
lematical when, January 25, 1850, the aged Clay, 
adopting once more the favorite role of compromiser, 
came forward with a memorable series of eight resolu- 
tions calculated to allay the passions of the hour and 



THE MEXICAN WAR 367 

to afford a basis for the speedy, fair, and permanent 
adjustment of the entire group of slavery questions by 
which the country was vexed. The more noteworthy 
of the proposals were (1) that California should be ad- 
mitted as a free state ; (2) that the remaining territo- 
ries acquired from Mexico in 1848 should be organized 
without any mention of slavery ; (3) that the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia should be abolished ; 
(4) that a new and more effective fugitive slave law 
should be enacted ; and (5) that Texas should yield to 
New Mexico the territory in dispute, in recognition of 
which act the United States should assume the debt 
contracted by Texas prior to her annexation to the 
United States. It is interesting to observe that four 
days before submitting publicly this plan of concilia- 
tion Clay sought and obtained a conference with Web- 
ster concerning it. Presenting himself at Webster's 
house on a stormy evening, and with no previous inti- 
mation of a visit, he poured out to his great compeer 
his fears for the Union and besought sympathy and 
assistance. The plan as unfolded appealed to Webster 
in all of its essentials, and he gave his word that if, 
upon further consideration, he should continue of the 
same mind he would devote himself to its adoption in 
the Senate, regardless of what the consequences might 
be at the North. 

The pledge was abundantly redeemed. On Feb- 
ruary 5th aud 6th Clay delivered a powerful speech in 
support of his resolutions, declaring that Congress and 
the state legislatures were " twenty-odd furnaces in 
full blast in generating heat and passion and intem- 
perance, and diffusing them throughout the whole ex- 
tent of the broad land," and expressing the most urgent 
anxiety for the restoration of " concord, harmony, and 



368 DANIEL WEBSTER 

peace." On March 4th the speech of Calhoun, who 
was too broken in health to be able to deliver it, was 
read by Senator Mason of Virginia. In it the Com- 
promise was declared incapable of saving the Union, 
and it was asserted unequivocally that the only means 
whereby that consummation could be attained would 
be the concession to the South of an equal right in the 
territories, the complete enforcement of the fugitive 
slave law, and the absolute cessation of anti-slavery 
agitation. Three days later Webster, the third mem- 
ber of the great triumvirate whose twoscore years of 
service in Congress were now drawing to an end, de- 
livered the memorable speech known from then until 
now by the date of its delivery, < ' the Seventh of March." 
Earlier in the session Webster had expressed the 
conviction that the Union was not in imminent peril. 
"There is no serious danger," he wrote as late as Feb- 
ruary 14th. Subsequently, however, and especially 
after the reading of the speech of Calhoun, he came to 
the opinion that the threats of secession which were 
sounded so loudly were not entirely empty. As early 
as February 22d he was determined to "make a Union 
speech and discharge a clear conscience," and March 
7th, when the resolutions of Clay were the special 
order of the day, he seized a favorable opportunity for 
the purpose. That he was likely to do so was known 
somewhat in advance, and when, on the day mentioned, 
the doors of the Senate chamber were opened all avail- 
able space was quickly occupied by ladies, members of 
the House, and other spectators who had been fortu- 
nate enough to gain admission. Despite the fact that 
nothing except an outline was committed to writing, 
the speech was diligently prepared, and it is the testi- 
mony of those who heard it that it was delivered with 



THE MEXICAN W AR 369 

more than the speaker's usual deliberation and poise. 1 
It was born of an intense devotion to the Union and a 
solicitous and discriminating study of the highly dis- 
cordant aspects of the existing political situation, and 
through it flashed the same flames of eloquence which 
illumined the Reply to Hayne. 

The exordium was one of singular dignity and power 
of appeal. "Mr. President, I wish to speak to-day, 
not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, 
but as an American, and a member of the Senate of 
the United States. It is fortunate that there is a Sen- 
ate of the United States ; a body not yet moved from 
its propriety, not lost to a just sense of its own dignity 
and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which 
the country looks, with confidence, for wise, moderate, 
patriotic, and healing counsels. It is not to be denied 
that we live in the midst of strong agitations, and are 
surrounded by very considerable dangers to our insti- 
tutions and government. The imprisoned winds are 
let loose. The East, the North, and the stormy South 
combine to throw the whole sea into commotion, to 
toss its billows to the skies, and disclose its pro- 
foundest depths. I do not affect to regard myself, Mr. 
President, as holding, or as fit to hold, the helm in 
this combat with the political elements ; but I have a 
duty to perform, and I mean to perform it with fidelity, 
not without a sense of existing dangers, but not without 
hope. I have a part to act, not for my own security or 
safety, for I am looking out for no fragment upon which 
to float away from the wreck, if wreck there must be, 
but for the good of the whole and the preservation of all ; 

1 The outline, whioh filled twenty-eight sheets of foolscap, is 
printed in Van Tyne, "Letters of Webster," pp. 393-403, and in 
" Writings and Speeches," Vol. X, pp. 281-291. 



370 DANIEL WEBSTER 

and there is that which will keep me to my duty during 
this struggle, whether the suu and the stars shall ap- 
pear, or shall not appear for many days. I speak 
today for the preservation of the Union. 'Hear me 
for my cause.' I speak to-day, out of a solicitous and 
anxious heart, for the restoration to the country of that 
quiet and that harmony which make the blessings of 
this Union so rich, and so dear to us all. These are 
the topics that I propose to myself to discuss ; these 
are the motives, and the sole motives, that influence 
me in the wish to communicate my opinions to the 
Senate and the country j and if I can do anything, 
however little, for the promotion of these ends, I shall 
have accomplished all that I expect." * 

Following this announcement of purpose Webster 
passed to a review of the history of slavery in the 
United States, pointing out how the hope of the dis- 
appearance of the institution cherished by men of 
earlier days, including slaveholders, had been brought 
to naught by the expansion of cotton culture, and how 
the South, once more outspoken in condemnation of 
slavery than was the North, had come gradually to re- 
gard the institution as natural, necessary, and even 
justifiable upon religious grounds. Then he sketched 
the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, and the 
general chain of events by which the nation had been 
brought to its present perilous situation. The charac- 
ter of every part of the country, with respect to sla- 
very, was declared now to be fixed, by law or by Na- 
ture ; and, avowing that Nature had herself attended 
to the exclusion of slavery from the territories com- 
prised in the Mexican cession, he declared that he 

x " Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 325-32G; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. X, pp. 57-58. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 371 

would not ' ' take pains to reaffirm an ordinance of Na- 
ture, nor to reenact the will of God," — that he would 
" put in no Wilniot proviso, for the purpose of a taunt 
or a reproach." The "criminations and recrimina- 
tions" of the slaveholding and non-slaveholding sec- 
tions of the country were then surveyed at length and 
set forth in bold relief. The grievance of the South to 
which most attention was given was that arising from 
the lax enforcement of the fugitive slave law. In the 
controversy which had arisen upon this subject the 
South, it was affirmed, was right, the North was wrong. 
"No man fulfills his duty in any legislature who sets 
himself to find excuses, evasions, escapes from this 
constitutional obligation," it was maintained ; and the 
activity of some Northern legislatures in flooding Con- 
gress with memorials on slavery in the District of 
Columbia and kindred subjects was especially dep- 
precated. Of abolition societies, also, he spoke very 
unfavorably. Allowing that thousands of the mem- 
bers of these organizations were honest and good men, 
he none the less maintained that the societies during 
the last twenty years had l ' produced nothing good or 
valuable," and that their effect was but to excite feel- 
ing and create alarm. The violence of the Northern 
press was likewise reprobated, although it was in- 
sisted that the Southern press was no less at fault. In 
the entire catalogue of Southern complaints he pro- 
fessed to see, however, "no solid grievance within the 
redress of the Government" save "the want of a 
proper regard to the injunction of the Constitution 
for the delivery of fugitive slaves. " 

Turning to the complaints of the North, he enumer- 
ated as first and gravest the change that had taken 
place in Southern sentiment since 1789, involving 



372 DANIEL WEBSTER 

efforts to extend the institution of slavery into new 
regions, contrary to the understanding which prevailed 
when the Constitution was adopted ; second, the tone 
of disparagement in which Southern men were accus- 
tomed to speak of free labor and of the industrial sys- 
tem of the North ; and, finally, the laws of certain 
Southern states in accordance with which colored sea- 
men employed on Northern vessels were denied freedom 
when in Southern ports. With respect to the griev- 
ances of both sides it was declared that in so far as 
they had their foundation in matters of law they could 
be, and should be, redressed ; but that in so far as they 
had their foundation in matters of opinion, in sentiment, 
in mutual crimination and recrimination, all that could 
be done was to endeavor to " allay the agitation and 
cultivate a better feeling and more fraternal sentiments 
between the South and the North." 

Toward the close of the speech there came an out- 
burst of impassioned eloquence such as Webster him- 
self had seldom equaled. It was inspired especially 
by the free and easy references to secession which in 
these days fell not infrequently from the lips of men of 
high standing and influence. " Secession ! Peaceable 
secession ! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined 
to see that miracle. The dismemberment of this vast 
country without convulsion ! The breaking up of the 
fountains of the great deep without ruffling the sur- 
face ! Who is so foolish, I beg everybody's pardon, as 
to expect to see any such thing ? Sir, he who sees 
these states, now revolving in harmony around a com- 
mon centre, and expects to see them quit their places 
and fly off without convulsion, may look the next hour 
to see the heavenly bodies rush from their spheres, and 
jostle against each other in the realms of space, with- 



THE MEXICAN WAE 373 

out causing the wreck of the universe. There can be 
no such thing as a peaceable secession. Peaceable 
secession is an utter impossibility. Is the great Con- 
stitution under which we live, covering this whole 
country, is it to be thawed and melted away by seces- 
sion, as the snows on the mountain melt unobserved, 
and run off? No, sir ! No, sir ! I will not state what 
might produce the disruption of the Union ; but, sir, I 
see as plainly as I see the sun in heaven what that dis- 
ruption itself must produce j I see that it must pro- 
duce war. . . . Peaceable secession ! Peaceable 
secession ! The concurrent agreement of all the mem- 
bers of this great republic to separate ! A voluntary 
separation, with alimony on one side and on the other. 
Why, what would be the result ? Where is the line to 
be drawn ? What states are to secede ? What is to 
remain American 1 ? What am I to be? An Ameri- 
can no longer ? Am I to become a sectional man, a 
local man, a separatist, with no country in common 
with the gentlemen who sit around me here, or who 
fill the other house of Congress ? Heaven forbid ! 
Where is the flag of the republic to remain % Where 
is the eagle still to tower? or is he to cower, and 
shrink, and fall to the ground ? Why, sir, our ances- 
tors, our fathers and our grandfathers, those of them 
that are yet living amongst us with prolonged lives, 
would rebuke and reproach us ; and our children and 
our grandchildren would cry out shame upon us, if we 
of this generation should dishonor these ensigns of the 
power of the government and the harmony of that Un- 
ion which is every day felt among us with so much joy 
and gratitude. What is to become of the army? 
What is to become of the navy ? What is to become 
of the public lands ? How is each of the thirty states 



374 DANIEL WEBSTER 

to defend itself? I know, although the idea has not 
been stated distinctly, there is to be, or it is supposed 
possible that there will be, a Southern Confederacy. 
I do not mean, when I allude to this statement, that 
any one seriously contemplates such a state of things. 
I do not mean to say that it is true, but I have heard it 
suggested elsewhere, that the idea has been entertained, 
that, after the dissolution of this Union, a Southern 
Confederacy might be formed. I am sorry, sir, that it 
has ever been thought of, talked of, or dreamed of, in 
the wildest flights of human imagination. But the 
idea, so far as it exists, must be of a separation, as- 
signing the slave states to one side and the free states 
to the other. Sir, I may express myself too strongly, 
perhaps, but there are impossibilities in the natural as 
well as in the physical world, and I hold the idea of a 
separation of these states, those that are free to form 
one government, and those that are slaveholding to 
form another, as such an impossibility. We could not 
separate the states by any such line, if we were to draw 
it. We could not sit down here to-day and draw a line 
of separation that would satisfy any five men in the 
country. There are natural causes that would keep 
and tie us together, and there are social and domestic 
relations which we could not break if we would, and 
which we should not if we could." l 

The most notable speeches upon the Compromise by 
which those of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster were fol- 
lowed were those of William H. Seward, delivered 
March 11th, and Salmon P. Chase, delivered two 
weeks later. Seward and Chase belonged to the 
younger generation of statesmen, to the generation 

144 Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 361-362; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. X, pp. 93-94. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 375 

which was destined to witness the war between the 
sections and the complete abolition of slavery, and 
while their attachment to the Union was unimpeachable 
they felt less than did Webster and Clay the necessity 
of compromise and of toleration for the Union's sake. 
Seward pronounced all legislative compromises " rad- 
ically wrong and essentially vicious," declared the 
fugitive slave law contrary to the law of nature, denied 
that the Constitution recognized slavery, and affirmed 
that in any case there was a higher law than the Con- 
stitution in accordance with which the newly acquired 
territories should be devoted to freedom. With these 
doctrines Chase was in substantial agreement. 

On April 18th the compromise resolutions were re- 
ferred to a committee of thirteen, of which Clay was 
chairman, and May 8th they were reported in the form 
of two bills, together with an amendment to the fugi- 
tive slave bill already pending in the Senate. The 
drift of circumstances throughout the country was 
strongly in favor of the Compromise. The holding of 
a convention at Nashville in which nine of the slave 
states were represented strikingly emphasized the de- 
sirability of an early settlement. On July 9th Presi- 
dent Taylor died, and Fillmore, who succeeded, gave 
the weight of his influence to the proposed adjustment. 
Disentangling the numerous propositions one by one, 
Congress adopted the series with few modifications, 
and before the close of the year the Compromise had 
become law. The sentiment that the preservation of 
the Union should be exalted above the attainment of 
sectional ends upon controverted questions was still in 
the ascendant. Whether it would continue so after 
the passing of such bulwarks of nationalism as Webster 
and Clay was a serious question. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 

With the exception of the debate with Hayne, no 
performance of Webster in the course of a public career 
covering twoscore years aroused greater interest than did 
the speech of the Seventh of March. None provoked 
contemporaneously more wide-spread discussion, and 
none has since been judged more variously by biog- 
raphers and historians. No sooner was the speech de- 
livered and the content of it made known to an awaiting 
public than there arose throughout the North, and most 
of all in New England, a veritable storm of criticism. 
In pulpit and in press, by abolitionists and by men 
who detested the abolitionist creed, Webster was pro- 
claimed, in language now of sorrow and now of indig- 
nation, a compromiser, a time-server, and an apostate. 
At a public meeting held in Faneuil Hall the speech 
was unsparingly condemned and Theodore Parker de- 
clared that he knew of no deed in American history 
done by a son of New England to which he could com- 
pare that of Webster save the act of Benedict Arnold. 
"Webster," wrote Horace Mann, "is a fallen star! 
Lucifer descending from heaven ! " In a poem of 
mournful melody, "Ichabod," Whittier deplored the 
" fallen" statesman's loss of faith and honor ; while a 
member of the Massachusetts legislature proclaimed 
the object of his scorn "a recreant son of Massa- 
chusetts who misrepresented her in the Senate." By 
the speech, asserted Giddings, "a blow was struck at 



SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 377 

freedom and the constitutional rights of the free states 
which no Southern arm could have given." The 
Boston Atlas, the New York Tribune and other leading 
Whig journals were outspoken in disapproval. 

The points of specific attack were several. One was 
the readiness now displayed, despite a strong disposi- 
tion in the past to resist any possible extension of 
slavery, to accept the "law of Nature" in lieu of an 
act of Congress prohibiting slavery in the Mexican 
cession. Another was the consideration shown the 
South in the matter of the execution of the fugitive 
slave law and the seeming indifference to the senti- 
ments of Northern people which were outraged by the 
proposed legislation upon this subject. It was charged 
that, instead of maintaining an independent and digni- 
fied attitude, as was his custom, Webster had stooped 
to the level of a mere compromiser, even a truckler to 
Southern interests, and it was alleged that he was curry- 
ing favor with the South with the express purpose of 
promoting his chance of attaining the presidency. 
The abject surrender of moral principle which was 
alleged to have been made was declared to be the fruit 
of inordinate and long unsatisfied ambition. "The 
only reasonable way in which we can estimate this 
speech," affirmed Parker, "is as a bid for the presi- 
dency." And the charge was reiterated by Mann, 
Giddings, and numerous other critics. Even the 
crowning argument by which Webster had sought to 
promote the enactment of the measures of 1850, *. e. , 
the necessity of averting the peril of disunion, was 
pronounced empty and insincere, it being assumed 
that no peril of the sort existed. 

There can be no question that throughout the North 
Webster's standing was affected adversely by the 



378 DANIEL WEBSTER 

speech, nor that in quarters where abolitionism was 
dominant all claim to popularity was at this point 
forfeited. Two facts are, however, to be observed. 
In the first place, if the speech served to bring down 
upon its author denunciation, and even disgrace, it 
also brought him numerous aud highly flattering ex- 
pressions of admiration and confidence. These came 
not alone from the South but from all portions of the 
country, and from political friends and foes alike. A 
formal address was sent to him from Boston, signed by 
eight hundred substantial citizens, 1 warmly approving 
the stand which had been taken. From Newbury- 
port, Medford, the cities and towns of the Kennebec 
Valley, and from a representative body of friends aud 
former neighbors in New Hampshire, came similar 
testimonials, enforcing the fact that while condemna- 
tion was sharpest in the senator's own section of the 
country it was not even there by any means universal. 
"I wish I could send you," wrote one of Webster's 
friends (from Washington) to another, "the tons of 
Southern and Western papers that are filled with 
glorifications of the speech — they would do you much 
good. The letters from clergymen all over the 
country, and from Democrats in all the states, con- 
curring in the strongest approbation of the speech, 
have filled Mr. Webster's office, so that there is no 
room to sit down." 2 

A second fact to be observed is that after the lapse 
of a little time large numbers of persons who for the 
moment had been alienated assumed again an attitude 

1 Including George Ticknor, George T. Curtis, Rufus Choate, 
William H. Prescott, and .Tared Sparks. 

2 Edward Curtis to Peter Harvey, March 15, 1850. Van Tyne, 
" Letters of Webster," p. 405. 



SECEETAEY OP STATE UNDER FILLMORE 379 

of sympathy and support. The conviction grew 
that in an era of controversy such as that in which 
men were now living the leadership of a statesman 
of Webster's intellect and integrity was something 
to be prized, not scorned. The abolitionists were ir- 
reconcilable, and undoubtedly the majority of anti- 
slavery people continued to be more or less displeased. 
But many Whig journals in time became less cen- 
sorious, and several ended by according unreserved 
support ; and the change of attitude was reflected 
widely among their readers. It was, as Mr. Rhodes 
asserts, Webster, rather than Clay, who raised up for 
the Compromise a powerful and much-needed support 
from Northern public sentiment. 1 

The truth is that the course which Webster pursued 
in 1850, if considerably at variance with his course at 
earlier times, was dictated very much more largely by 
honest and patriotic motives than the critics of that 
day and since have been willing to admit. The point 
is incontestable that Webster in 1850 still aspired to 
attain the presidency. Such aspiration he, indeed, 
had cherished since at least the period of the Hayne 
debate and the controversy over nullification. It may 
be granted, too, that in the later portion of his career 
he was distinctly less outspoken in opposition to slavery 
than in the days of the Missouri Compromise and the 
Plymouth oration. At no time had he even approx- 
imated the position of the abolitionists. None the 
less, he had once been readier to denounce the slave 
trade and the several harsher phases of the institution, 
and in later times he was strongly disposed to confine 
his anti -slavery activities to the prevention of the 
acquisition of new slave territory. In 1850 he had 
1 Rhodes, " History of the United States," Vol. I, p. 157. 



380 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

seemed, at least, to many people to yield even upon 
this fundamental point. But the fact is' to be borne in 
mind that, if he refused to insist upon the positive ex- 
clusion of slavery from New Mexico, he refused also to 
accede to the demand of the South that the legality of 
slavery in the territories be recognized and maintained 
by Congress ; and it must be admitted that, California 
having already declared against slavery, the contention 
that there really never would be a slavery question in 
the Mexican cession was substantially based. Further- 
more, the argument employed in behalf of the carrying 
into effect of the fugitive slave clause of the Constitu- 
tion was, so far as the legal aspect of it is concerned, 
quite unimpeachable. Webster's only tactical error 
at this point lay in his failure to perceive the intensity 
and the permanence of the Northern feeling upon the 
subject and in his neglect to use the occasion to make 
fresh protestation of the essential iniquity of slavery. 
The making of such protestation, however, would have 
robbed the speech of its conciliatory tone, thereby 
defeating its essential purpose. That Webster was an 
anti-slavery man the country knew. In 1848 he had 
complained to a friend that there were those who 
refused to regard him as such unless he repeated the 
declaration " once a week." In 1850 there were those 
who would not have believed such an assertion if re- 
peated daily. But the people in general knew his 
record and required at this time, as he felt, no fresh 
assurance. 

Finally, despite the opinion of some historians to the 
contrary, it may be asserted that the motive which was 
supremely operative in the Seventh of March speech, 
as in Webster's public nets and utterances upon many 
other occasions, was that of the safeguarding of the 



SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 381 

Union. i ' Sir, ' ' he declared in one of his speeches upon 
the Compromise, " my object is peace. My object is 
reconciliation. My purpose is not to make up a case for 
the North, or to make up a case for the South. My obj ect 
is not to continue useless and irritating controversies. I 
am against agitators, North and South. I am against 
local ideas, North and South, and against all narrow 
and local contests. I am an American, and I know 
no locality but America; that is my country. My 
heart, my sentiments, my judgment, demand of me 
that I shall pursue such a course as shall promote the 
good, and the harmony, and the union of the whole 
country. This I shall do, God willing, to the end of 
the chapter." * Webster's idea that the Union was in 
danger was scoffed at by his abolitionist critics. Yet 
the student of the period knows that never had the 
threat of secession been made with such resoluteness 
as in 1850 and that within slightly more than a decade 
the durability of the nation was destined to be put 
to the supreme test. In the situation which existed 
Webster considered the proposals of Clay to comprise, 
not necessarily an ideal, but a common-sense, fair, and 
practicable, settlement — one well calculated to meet 
the rising demand of a large part of the nation for 
sectional peace. To what precise extent the still linger- 
ing longing for the presidency imparted color to the 
sentiments which were expressed no one can know. In 
all probability Webster himself did not know. There 
can be no question, however, that by some writers this 
factor has been greatly exaggerated. At the most, it 
was incidental rather than preponderant. If, as Mr. 
Rhodes has said, "one believes that Webster surren- 
dered principle for the sake of winning the favor of 
1 Curtis, "Webster," Vol. II, p. 448. 



382 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

the South, it must be on the ground that this man of 
large public experieuce did uot uuderstaud the senti- 
ment of the North ; or that, with unexampled fatuity, 
he hoped his position on the sectional question would 
gain him the support of the South and yet not lose him 
that of the free states." 1 

On July 9, 1850, while the Compromise measures 
were pending, President Taylor died and was suc- 
ceeded by the Vice-President, Mr. Fillmore. While 
relations between Taylor and Fillmore had been agree- 
able, it was understood that in temper and policy the 
two men were essentially unlike, and it was assumed 
that the personnel of the Administration would un- 
dergo a certain amount of change. " It is at this mo- 
ment supposed," wrote Webster two days after Fill- 
more's accession, "that there will be an entirely new 
cabinet. Certainly not more than one or two can re- 
main." 2 On the following day he wrote : " As to the 
State Department, I have no idea who will have it, al- 
though, if the power were with me, I think I could 
find a man [Edward Everett] without going out of 
Massachusetts, who has talent enough and knowledge 
enough ; but whether he is at this moment so fresh in 
the minds of the people that his appointment would 
strike the public mind favorably, may be a doubt. 
Nobody can well be Secretary of State who has not 
fortune, unless he be a bachelor." 3 But the man to 
whom, at the suggestion of Clay, Fillmore turned was 
none other than Webster himself. At some time dur- 
ing the three or four days succeeding July 16th the 

1 Rhodes, " History of the United States," Vol. I, pp. 158-159. 

2 Webster to Haven, July 11, 1850. Webster, " Private Corre- 
spondence," Vol. II, p. 376. 

3 Webster to Haven, July 12, 1850. Ibid. ,Vol. II, p. 376. 



SECBETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 383 

offer of the State portfolio was tendered and, with re- 
luctance, accepted. "I yielded," wrote the new ap- 
pointee on July 21st, " to what has been suggested 
from so many sides, and gave up my own wishes to 
the wishes aud opinions of my friends. I must leave 
myself in their hands. There is work enough for me, 
and anxious duties in plenty ; but if I can j)reserve my 
health, I will toil through a hot summer here, though 
I confess it does seem hard that at my age I cannot en- 
joy the comforts of my own home. I was persuaded 
to think it was my duty, in the present crisis, to ac- 
cept a seat in the cabinet, but it made my heart ache 
to think of it." l A final speech in the Senate, de- 
livered July 17th, comprised a masterful attempt to 
impress upon Congress and the country the supreme 
importance of the allaying of sectional strife through 
the adoption of the Compromise. - 

On July 23, 1850, Webster entered upon his second 
period of service in the State Department ; and the po- 
sition at this point assumed was retained until his 
death, in October, 1852. There was, however, in 
these times a dearth of foreign questious of serious im- 
port, and the period is marked by no great diplomatic 
stroke such as that attained in the Ashburton treaty of 
a decade earlier. The highly important treaty of 1850 
with Great Britain upon the subject of an interoceanic 
canal was brought to completion by Secretary Clayton 
before Webster's accession to office. So completely 
did domestic issues overshadow foreign ones, and so 
prominently was the name of Webster associated with 

1 Webster to Harvey, July 21, 1580. Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence, ' ' Vol. II, p. 378. Webster's successor in the Senate 
was Robert Rantoul. 

* " Works of Webster," Vol. V, pp. 412-438 ; "Waitings and 
Speeches," Vol. X, pp. 144-170. 



384 DANIEL WEBSTER 

these issues, that throughout the period of his secre- 
taryship it was upou theiu principally that his time 
aud thought were bestowed. When he left the Senate 
for the cabinet the Compromise measures were still un- 
der discussiou, and his correspondence during the en- 
suing weeks dealt almost exclusively with them. On 
September 10th, when at last all of the measures had 
become law except the one relating to the slave-trade 
in the District of Columbia, he unburdened himself to 
a friend as follows : ' i You have heard how all things 
have gone, so far. I confess I feel relieved. Since 
the 7th of March, there has not been an hour in which 
J have not felt a ' crushing ' weight of anxiety and re- 
sponsibility. I have gone to sleep at night, and 
waked in the morning with the same feeling of eat- 
ing care. And I have sat down to no breakfast or 
dinner to which I have brought an unconcerned and 
easy mind. It is over. My part is acted, and I am 
satisfied. The rest I leave to stronger bodies and 
fresher minds." 1 

By some writers it has been assumed that the 
•'crushing weight of anxiety and responsibility ' ' to 
which Webster here alludes was the product of re- 
morse. Undoubtedly there was involved in it much of 
regret. But there is no reason for believing that Web- 
ster ever regarded his course upon the Compromise as 
anything other than honorable and patriotic. The 
Seventh of March speech he considered the most im- 
portant effort of his life, 2 aud, far from feeling regret 
or chagrin regarding it, he was active throughout his 

1 Webster to Harvey, September 10, 1850. "Webster, " Private 
Correspondence,'"' Vol. II, p. 385. 

2 Webster to Everett, September 27, 1851. Quoted in Curtis, 
"Webster," Vol. II, p. 529. 



SEOEETAEY OF STATE UNDEE FILLMOEE 385 

remaining years in promoting its circulation among 
the people and in defending the propositions upon 
which it was based. The " crushing weight " was, in 
tact, apprehension regarding the state of the Union, 
and relief was forthcoming only when the measures 
upon whose enactment the saving of the country was 
believed to be dependent were at last carried into law. 
"I think," it was declared feelingly, two days after 
the adoption of the Compromise was assured, " that the 
country has had a providential escape from very con- 
siderable dangers." To Harvey, Webster wrote opti- 
mistically on October 2d : " My main relief, however, 
is that Congress got through so well. I can now sleep 
o' nights. We have gone through the most important 
crisis which has occurred since the foundation of the 
Government ; and whatever party may prevail, here- 
after, the Union stands firm. Faction, disunion, and 
the love of mischief are put under, at least for the 
present, and I hope for a long time. " ! 

During the years which elapsed between the adop- 
tion of the Compromise and the rise of the Nebraska 
controversy, in 1853, the supreme issue before the 
country was that of the finality of the settlement which 
had been effected. Several of the adjustments which 
had been reached — the admission of California as a 
free state, the fixing of the Texan boundary, the as- 
sumption of the Texan debt — were beyond question 
final. Others — as the abolition of the slave-trade in 
the District of Columbia and the organization of New 
Mexico and Utah without federal regulation of slavery 
— were less clearly so. And one — the enactment of the 
new and curiously devised fugitive slave law — was, al- 

1 Webster to Harvey, October 2, 1850. Van Tyne, " Letters of 
Webster," p. 433. 



386 DANIEL WEBSTER 

most from the first, the object of continuous and pow- 
erful attack, by which its stability was seriously 
threatened. To minimize the effects of continued agi- 
tation men of influence in both parties (notably Cass 
and Douglas among the Democrats and Clay, Webster, 
Choate, and Fillmore among the Whigs) organized and 
led a nation-wide counter-movement for the enforce- 
ment of law and the cessation of intersectional contro- 
versy. In New York, Boston, and other cities ' ' union ' ' 
meetings were held, and every effort was made to rally 
to the cause of peace the business, professional, and 
other influential elements. In this work Webster was 
especially active. As early as April 29, 1850, he had 
declared to a Boston gathering that he would support 
"no agitations having their foundations in unreal, 
ghostly abstractions"; 1 and throughout ensuing 
months he wrote numerous letters and delivered sev- 
eral public addresses in cities of New England, New 
York, and Virginia denouncing the renewal of agita- 
tion by the anti-slavery radicals and urging upon the 
people a general acquiescence in the results that had 
been attained. " No man, n he preached, " is at liberty 
to set up, or affect to set up, his own conscience above the 
law n ; and it was declared unequivocally that persons 
who should " continue to talk about Wilmot provisos, 
and to resist, or seek to repeal, the Fugitive Slave Bill, 
or use any other means to disturb the quiet of the 
country, will have no right to consider themselves as 
Whigs, or as friends of the Administration." The 
campaign for 'finality was based upon a misapprehen- 
sion of the actual situation, and in the end it was a 
failure ; but its apparent success for a time deluded 
not only Webster but the majority of moderate people, 
1 "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIII, p. 387. 



SECRETARY OP STATE UNDER FILLMORE 387 

in both North and South, into thinking that the slavery 
problem had really reached a solution. 

After the adjournment of Congress, September 30, 
1850, Webster took advantage of the lack of pressing 
business in the State Department to spend a number of 
weeks at Marshfield and Elms Farm in quest of re- 
lief from his increasingly serious catarrhal trouble. 
Throughout the ensuing winter he was called upon 
continually to address public gatherings of widely 
varied character. On December 22d he attended a 
Pilgrim Festival in New York, held by former resi- 
dents of New England, and responded to a toast in one 
of the most impressive brief speeches of his career. 1 
Nearly all other invitations were declined, but they 
not uncommonly elicited letters upon public issues 
which found their way into print and attracted wide- 
spread attention. The course which Webster had 
pursued in the debate on the Compromise continued to 
be discussed with vigor, and when it appeared that no 
shred of sympathy with the prevailing antagonism in 
New England to the enforcement of the fugitive slave 
law might be expected from him, the condemnation 
which had been visited upon him by pulpit and aboli- 
tionist press broke forth afresh. In April, 1851, when 
it was proposed to tender him a public reception in 
Faneuil Hall, the board of aldermen, after arrange- 
ments had been effected informally and Webster had 
assented to the plan, quite unexpectedly refused the use 
of the hall for the purpose. In the prevailing state of 
the public mind the incident aroused tremendous in- 
terest throughout the country. In Boston there was 
such indignation that the common council, explaining 

l " Works of Webster," Vol. II, pp. 517-528; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IV, pp. 217-226. 



388 DANIEL WEBSTER 

that the use of the hall had beeu refused to a defender 
of the Compromise only because it had been refused to 
Wendell Phillips and other opponents of the measure, 
signified willingness that the proposed reception be 
held. 1 Webster, however, declined to appear, declar- 
ing that he should not enter the " Cradle of American 
Liberty " until its doors should be thrown open with- 
out reserve to men of all parties who were " true to the 
Union as well as to Liberty.' 7 

Throughout the year 1851 the work of the State De- 
partment continued to be almost exclusively of a routine 
character. " There never was a time, I think," wrote 
Webster, "in which our foreign relations were more 
quiet. There seems no disturbing breath on the sur- 
face. All the diplomatic gentlemen here are amicably 
disposed, and our intercourse is quite agreeable." 2 
There was, however, scant opportunity for the relaxa- 
tion of which the Secretary stood in need. Even the 
prosaic tasks of administration could not be delegated 
wholly to subordinates, and from numerous quarters 
invitations, some of which could not well be refused, 
continued to pour in. At the middle of May there was 
a trip, in the company of President Fillmore and sev- 
eral members of the cabinet, to western New York for 
the purpose of participating in the celebration of the 
opening of the Erie Railroad, connecting the city of 
New York with Lake Erie. At Buffalo Webster spoke 
twice, once upon general lines at a public dinner given 
in his honor, and again upon the political issues of the 
day at a great open-air gathering of the people. The 

1 Resolutions of Boston Common Council, April 17, 1851. Van 
Tyne, 4l Letters of Webster," p. 471. 

2 Webster to Blatchford, May 4, 1851 ; Webster, " Private Cor- 
respondence," Vol. II, p. 441. 



SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 389 

second speech, delivered before an audience vaster than 
could be reached by the human voice, and amidst a 
heavy downpour of rain, comprised a remarkably 
straightforward and convincing defense of the Com- 
promise and of the principles of the seventh of March. ' 
On the return journey the President stopped and spoke 
briefly in numerous towns of central New York, and 
Webster, who followed some days later, felt obliged to 
do the same thing or run the risk, as he said, of being 
"thought churlish." On May 28th he spoke to a 
great concourse of people in the square of the state 
capitol at Albany, again upon the issues involved in 
the Compromise. 2 Shortly thereafter he sought mo- 
mentary relaxation in the hills of Virginia ; and at 
Capon Springs, June 28th, the people from fifty miles 
around tendered him a public dinner and listened to 
not only a formal speech but also an impromptu plea 
for the Union called out by the remarks of another 
speaker who, while expressing his approval of the 
principal speech, confessed that he differed from Web- 
ster upon almost every question of public policy. s On 
July 4th the corner-stone of an imposing addition to 
the Capitol at Washington was laid, and, in accordance 
with the urgent request of the committee in charge of 
the ceremony, and also of the President, Webster de- 
livered the principal address.* Following this came 
an opportunity to repair to Marshfield, and there and 
at Elms Farm the next three months were spent. 
The period was, of course, not entirely devoid of 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. II, pp. 529-564 ; " Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IV, pp. 231-262. 

2 Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 565-592 ; Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 267-290. 

3 "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIII, pp. 429-441. 

4 "Works of Webster," Vol. II, pp. 593-620 ; "Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. IV, pp. 293-318. 



390 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

foreign complications, although none assumed great 
seriousness. Easily the most notable episode within it 
was the preparation and transmission of the ' i Hiilse- 
mann letter." In April, 1849, the revolution which 
was sweeping over Austria- Hungary culminated in a 
declaration of Hungarian independence, and two 
months later President Taylor commissioned an emis- 
sary, Dudley A. Mann, to proceed to Hungary to in- 
vestigate the situation with a view to a recognition of 
the independence of the country, should conditions be 
found to warrant such a step. Upon his arrival in 
Europe the commissioner learned that Hungary had 
failed to make good her declaration, whereupon, with- 
out so much as setting foot upon Hungarian soil, he 
reported that recognition would be without present 
justification. Unfortunately, the purpose of the mis- 
sion became known to the Austrian Government, and 
through the charge d'affaires at Washington, Baron 
Hiilsemann, protest was lodged with Secretary Clay- 
ton. Explanations were entered upon, but before the 
incident was closed there occurred the death of the 
President and the reorganization of the cabinet, so that 
the framing of the final reply on the part of the United 
States devolved upon Webster. 

The reply which was made, under date of December 
21, 1850, comprised one of the most remarkable docu- 
ments which has emanated at any time from the State 
Department. In it Webster defined the past policy of 
the United States in the matter of recognition, denied 
that the sending of Mann was an unfriendly act, and 
asserted the right of the American people to extend 
their sympathy to oppressed and struggling mankind 
anywhere and at all times. The tone assumed was one 
of distinct lordliness. "The power of this republic at 



SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 391 

the present moment," it was declared, " is spread over 
a region one of the richest and most fertile on the 
globe, and of an extent in comparison with which the 
possessions of the house of Hapsburg are but as a 
patch on the earth's surface. Its population, already 
twenty-five millions, will exceed that of the Austrian 
Empire within the period during which it may be 
hoped that Mr. Hiilsemann may yet remain in the 
honorable discharge of his duties to his government. 
. . . Life, liberty, property, and all personal rights, 
are amply secured to all citizens and protected by 
just and stable laws ; and credit, public and private, is 
as well established as in any government of Continental 
Europe ; and the country, in all its interests and con- 
cerns, partakes most largely in all the improvements 
and progress which distinguish the age. Certainly the 
United States may be pardoned, even by those who 
profess adherence to the principles of absolute govern- 
ment, if they entertain an ardent affection for those 
popular forms of political organization which have so 
rapidly advanced their own prosperity and happiness, 
and enabled them, in so short a period, to bring their 
country, and the hemisphere to which it belongs, to 
the notice and respectful regard, not to say the ad- 
miration, of the civilized world." 1 

To this communication the Austrian charge, after 
receiving instructions, replied that his government 
remained of the same mind as before, but was not dis- 
posed to jeopardize the friendship existing between 
the two countries by prolonging the controversy. 
Webster reciprocated with an expression of good-will, 

1 "Works of Webster," Vol. VI, p. 496. For the Hulsemann 
correspondence see " Works of Webster," Vol. VI, pp. 488-506. 
and "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XII, pp. 162-180. 



392 DANIEL WEBSTER 

and the incident was closed. That the language em- 
ployed in the letter quoted savored strongly of spread- 
eagleism and might hardly have been used with im- 
punity toward a nation better circumstanced is hardly 
subject to dispute. The letter was, as one historian 
fairly characterizes it, " hardly more than a stump 
speech under diplomatic guise." 1 In a note to his 
friend Ticknor Webster defended it as follows: "If 
you say that my Hulsemann letter is boastful and 
rough, I shall own the soft impeachment. My excuse 
is twofold : 1. I thought it well enough to speak out, 
and tell the people of Europe who and what we are, 
and awaken them to a just sense of the unparalleled 
growth of this country. 2. I wished to write a paper 
which should touch the national pride, and make a 
man feel sheepish and look silly who should speak of 
disunion." 2 In short, the letter, while addressed to 
the representative of Austria, was calculated to make 
appeal to the peoples of both Europe and America— 
to inspire in the one a respect for the tremendous 
progress of the United States and to arouse in the other 
the spirit of patriotism, pride, and devotion to the Con- 
stitution under which this progress had been achieved. 
At a later point in Webster's secretaryship the 
Hungarian question became again troublesome. Early 
iu 1851 arrangements were procured whereby Louis 
Kossuth and a number of other Hungarian exiles, held 
since 1849 as semi-prisoners in Turkey, were to be 
allowed to be transported to the United States on an 
American man-of-war, and in October of the same 
year the agreement was carried into effect. Upon his 

1 Rhodes, "History of the United States," Vol. I, p. 206. 
3 Webster to Ticknor, January 16, 1851. Curtis, "Webster," 
Vol. II, p. 537. 



SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER FILLMORE 393 

arrival the Hungarian leader was lauded by the Presi- 
dent in his annual message, presented ceremoniously 
by Webster at the White House, received with marks 
of respect by both branches of Congress, and accorded 
a continuous ovation wherever he appeared. The 
effect was to delude him momentarily into thinking 
that the United States might be induced to furnish 
diplomatic and financial aid in the establishment of 
his country's independence. The scrupulous caution 
of the Secretary of State and other officials, however, 
together with the awakened sense of the people and 
the indiscretions of Kossuth himself, made it entirely 
clear in time that the great agitator and his com- 
patriots could expect from the United States nothing 
beyond good-will and hospitality. The attentions 
which were showered upon Kossuth angered Hiilse- 
mann, and after a banquet had been tendered the 
refugee at the capital, January 7, 1852, at which 
Webster was one of the speakers, formal protest was 
entered at the State Department. 1 Receiving no atten- 
tion in this quarter, the charge appealed in person to 
the President, but only to be told to confine his com- 
munications to the Department. On April 20, 1852, 
he informed Webster that his government would not 
permit him to remain longer "to continue official 
intercourse with the principal promoters of the much 
to be lamented Kossuth episode. " He did not, how- 
ever, withdraw at once, and when, in 1853, after 
Webster's death, there arose the complicated Koszta 
Case, involving the status of a Hungarian refugee, it 
was still Hiilsemann who voiced the demands of the 
Austrian authorities. 

1 For Webster's speech upon this occasion see ' ' Writings and 
Speeches," Vol. XIII, pp. 452-462. 



394 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

Aside from certain questions relating to the inter- 
pretation and execution of the CI ay ton- Bui wer treaty 
which began to arise thus early, the only other diplo- 
matic issue of importance duriug Webster's second 
secretaryship was that which was created between the 
United States and Spain in consequence of the filibus- 
tering expeditions of Narcisco Lopez and his followers 
in Cuba. Lopez was a South American who in 1818 
had led au unsuccessful revolution in Cuba and who, 
after being condemned to death, had contrived to 
escape to the United States. Despite the continued 
protests of the Spanish minister, Calderon de la Barca, 
and the efforts of the authorities at Washington, he 
contrived to fit out in the United States three success- 
ive filibustering expeditious against the Spanish gov- 
ernment in Cuba. 1 The last one, undertaken in 
August, 1851, resulted in his own capture and death 
and the execution of some fifty of his followers, includ- 
ing several representatives of well-known Southern 
families. Throughout the South indignation was in- 
tense, and at New Orleans, the centre of filibustering 
activities, a mob attacked the houses and shops of 
Spaniards, wrecked the Spanish consulate, tore in 
pieces the Spanish flag, and defaced the portrait of the 
Spanish Queen. 

On October 14th the Spanish minister, under in- 
structions, made demand upon the United States for 
reparation, insisting especially that all property -hold- 
ers should be indemnified for their losses and that the 
Spanish flag should be honored in some manner no less 
conspicuous than that in which it had been insulted. 
Webster recognized that, in partf at least, the demand 
was entirely reasonable. He pointed out that such of 
1 The first did not succeed in reaching the island. 



SECKETABY OF STATE UtfDEK FILLMORE 395 

the Spaniards who had suffered losses as were not 
official persons must look to the laws of the United 
States for protection of their interests, but admitted 
that such as were Spanish officials, principally the 
consul, stood upon a different footing and might prop- 
erly seek redress through the representations of their 
own government. There was no precedent upon the 
subject, but Webster agreed that Congress should be 
requested to provide for the consul's indemnification 
in full, and likewise that by means of a ceremony of 
salutation the honor which was asked for the flag of 
Spain should be accorded. The adj ustment proposed 
proved acceptable and was carried into effect. So 
tactfully, indeed, was the situation handled that one 
hundred and sixty survivors of the Lopez expedition 
who had been carried to Spain with the prospect of be- 
ing set to labor in the mines were allowed their liberty, 
although, being filibusterers, they had no legal claim 
upon the United States for protection. 1 

1 " Works of Webster," Vol. VI, pp. 507-517, and " WrifcingB and 
Speeches," Vol. XII, pp. 181-191. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 

With the approach of the year 1852 there was 
opened a chapter which was destined to be the last, 
and the most unhappy, of Webster's entire public 
career, that, namely, comprising the final failure to ob- 
tain the long-coveted Whig nomination for the presi- 
dency. The party situation preceding the campaign of 
1852 was in many respects confused. Nominally, the 
Whigs were in power ; but the administration of Pill- 
more, although entirely respectable, was not adapted 
to command enthusiasm, and in the state and congres- 
sional elections of 1850 and 1851 much ground was lost, 
in both North and South, to the Democrats. Apart 
from slavery, there was an almost utter lack of issues. 
The tariff, the currency, internal improvements — all 
were dead or quiescent. And a titanic effort was be- 
ing made to convince the country that even the slavery 
question was no more. In the campaign for finality 
which had been in progress since the adoption of the 
Compromise the Democrats, at least, had been mark- 
edly successful. In New York the return of the Barn- 
burners had restored the discipline of the party ; and 
the mass of the membership, in North and South 
alike, was ready to abide by the arrangements that 
had been effected and to frown down any sort of at- 
tempt to renew agitation. The Whigs had been less 
successful. Between the Southern wing of the party, 
strongly attached to the Compromise, and the Northern 
wing, large elements of which detested the new fugitive 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 397 

slave law and stood ready to abet its non-enforcement, 
there yawned a chasm by whose widening the party 
was destined soon to be rent entirely asunder. Yet at 
the opening of 1852 most of the Whig leaders talked of 
finality with quite as much gusto as did their Demo- 
cratic rivals, and it was assumed that slavery would 
play but little part in the ensuing contest. On both 
sides there was rather more than the customary amount 
of preliminary discussion and intrigue, centring, how- 
ever, about candidates, rather than about issues. 

The Democratic convention met at Baltimore, June 
1st. The unity of the party was completely restored, 
good feeling prevailed, and no difficulty was encoun- 
tered in the framing and adoption of a platform declaring 
for a faithful execution of the Compromise measures 
(including the fugitive slave law) and announcing the 
purpose of the party to resist "all attempts at renew- 
ing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the sla- 
very question, under whatever shape or color the at- 
tempt may be made." The principal candidates for 
the nomination were Cass, Buchanan, Marcy, and 
Douglas. No one of these, however, could obtain the 
two-thirds majority necessary for a choice, and in the 
end, on the forty-ninth ballot, a stampede resulted 
in the naming of a "dark horse," Franklin Pierce, of 
New Hampshire. 

Two weeks later the Whig convention assembled in 
the same city — indeed, in the same building. Long- 
in advance of the meetiug three candidates had been 
brought into the field, and when the convention met it 
was reasonably certain that to one of the three the 
nomination would fall. The three were President 
Fillmore, General Scott, and Webster. The candidacy 
of Fillmore was entirely natural. His conduct of the 



398 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

presidency had been dignified and efficient, his admin- 
istration was connected in the public mind with the 
critically important Compromise adjustment ; and, al- 
though president by chance rather than by the suffrage 
of the people, the fact that he had a record in office to be 
approved or disapproved gave him peculiar right to con- 
sideration. He was in no wise active as a candidate, 
but he permitted his friends to use his name, and in 
many portions of the country, notably the South, he 
acquired a large and determined following. Some of 
Webster's supporters warmly resented Fillmore's 
candidacy, but there is no evidence that Webster him- 
self did so. As a member of the cabinet, he continued 
on the most agreeable terms with his chief. For the 
candidacy of General Scott there was little justifica- 
tion. It was promoted principally by Northern 
Whigs to whom the Compromise, with which both 
Fillmore and Webster were identified, was objection- 
able ; and its further basis was the hope that with a 
military candidate the triumphs of 1840 and 1848 
might be duplicated. It might be that, as one of the 
General's enthusiastic advocates declared, he was 
"greater than Cortez in his triumphant, glorious, and 
almost miraculous march from Vera Cruz to the old 
city of the Aztecs " ; but there was nothing to indicate 
that he possessed even ordinary qualities of statesman- 
ship. 

The campaign for the nomination of Webster was 
begun actively in the autumn of 1851. Now that 
Clay, by reason of failing health and successive de- 
feats, was definitely removed from the field, it was 
considered by the friends of the Massachusetts states- 
man that the claims of their leader could, and should. 
no longer be denied. In November, 1851, a gathering 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 399 

of Massachusetts Whigs promulgated an address to 
the people, written by Edward Everett, in which, 
after the qualifications of Webster had been duly 
extolled, the opinion was expressed that the time 
had come when the welfare of the country required 
"that mere party claims should yield to higher 
considerations, " and that in the support of the 
Massachusetts candidate "good citizens of both par- 
ties and in both of the great sections of the country 
might cordially and consistently unite.' ' Similar 
meetings were held elsewhere, notably one in New 
York City by which an address of similar purport, 
written by William M. Evarts, was adopted and put 
in the course of circulation. A public letter of Clay, 
urging that the Compromise be regarded as final, was 
accepted as an expression of good- will toward the 
Webster candidacy, although nothing was said specif- 
ically upon that subject. During the winter of 1851- 
1852 the movement was kept up. Webster himself 
said and wrote little concerning it, but he followed the 
efforts of his friends with interest and appreciation. 
His own public activities at the time, aside from the 
administration of the State Department, were confined 
to the making of a number of addresses of a non- 
political character, chief among them being a discourse 
on "The Dignity of Historical Compositions," de- 
livered February 24, 1852, before the New York His- 
torical Society ; ! a speech before the legislature of 
Pennsylvania, April 1st ; an address at Annapolis ; and 
a neighborly talk in Faneuil Hall, May 22d, following 
partial recovery from a fall from a carriage suffered 
while driving near Marshfield. 2 

1 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIII, pp. 463-497. 

2 Ibid., pp. 510-522. 



400 DANIEL WEBSTER 

In April, 1852, Webster received from a Virginia 
Whig, G. A. Tavenner, acting in behalf of the South- 
ern Whigs generally, a solicitous letter of inquiry 
regarding the purposes of the Northern Whigs in 
respect to the coming presidential contest and the 
maintenance of the Compromise of 1850. It was ex- 
plained that Webster's high reputation and his fidelity 
to national Whig principles comprised the special 
reason for addressing such an inquiry to him. The 
Southern Whigs, it was asserted, had ever exhibited a 
national spirit during the sectional contests by which 
the country had been disturbed, and they had assumed, 
since the adoption of the Compromise, that the ques- 
tion of slavery would no longer prevent concert of 
action among the members of the party in the various 
portions of the Union. The disposition in the North, 
however, to keep up the contest — especially the re- 
opening of agitation upon the subject of the return of 
fugitive slaves — had aroused deep apprehension, and 
had raised again the question as to what the South as 
a section might expect from the North, and especially 
from the Northern wing of the great Whig party. 
"You have the means," it was urged, "of knowing 
the state of public sentiment at the North. You have 
been identified with no section, in sectional controver- 
sies. You occupy a position from which you can 
speak plainly, and I doubt not your advice will be 
heeded. We are aware that you will differ from many 
Southern Whigs on the abstract question of slavery, 
but we also know that you have always stood forth the 
bold and fearless defender of the Constitution, and so 
as that instrument guarantees them to us you have 
been the advocate of the rights of the South. What 
then in your opinion has the South a right to expect 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 401 

from the North ? Upon what platform arc the Whigs, 
North and South, to stand in the coming presidential 
contest 1 ? Is the Constitution to be the bond of Union 
between them? Are the late adjustment measures to 
be considered a final settlement in principle and sub- 
stance of all the subjects which they embrace, or is the 
Whig party henceforth to be a sectional instead of a 
great national party ? " * 

The reply addressed by Webster to Tavenner on the 
following day contains so explicit an affirmation of 
personal policy and conviction as to be worth quoting 
in full. It runs : 

"Dear Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of the Sth inst., and thank you 
for what you are pleased to say of my fidelity to 
great national Whig principles. I trust there is not a 
man in the country who doubts my approbation of 
those measures, which are usually called ' Compromise 
Measures,' or my fixed determination to uphold them 
steadily and firmly. Nothing but a deep sense of duty 
led me to take the part which I did take in bringing 
about their adoption by Congress, and that same sense 
of duty remains with unabated force. I am of opinion 
that those measures, one and all, were necessary and 
expedient, and ought to be adhered to, by all friends 
of the Constitution, and all lovers of their country. 
That one among them which appears to have given 
the greatest dissatisfaction, I mean the Fugitive Slave 
Law, I hold to be a law, entirely constitutional, highly 
proper, and absolutely essential to the peace of the 
country. Such a law is demanded by the plain written 
words of the Constitution ; and how auy man can wisli 

tavenner to Webster, April 8, 1852. Van Tyne, " Letters of 
Daniel Webster," p. 521. 



402 DANIEL WEBSTER 

to abrogate or destroy it, and at the same time say that 
he is a supporter of the Constitution, and willing to 
adhere to those provisions in it which are clear and 
positive injunctions and restraints, passes my power 
of comprehension. My belief is, that when the pas- 
sions of men subside, and reason and true patriotism 
are allowed to have their proper sway, the public 
mind, North aud South, will come to a proper state 
upon these questions. I do not believe that further 
agitation can make auy considerable progress at the 
North. The great mass of the people, I am sure, are 
sound, and have no wish to interfere with such things 
as are, by the Constitution, placed under the exclusive 
control of the separate states. I have noticed, indeed, 
not without regret, certain proceedings to which you 
have alluded, and in regard to these I have to say that 
gentlemen may not think it necessary, or proper, that 
they should be called upon to affirm, by resolution, 
that which is already the existing law of the land. 
That any positive movement to repeal or alter, any or 
all, the Compromise Measures, would meet with any 
general encouragement, or support, I do not at all be- 
lieve. But however that may be, my own sentiments 
remain, and are likely to remain, quite unchanged. I 
am in favor of upholding the constitution, in the 
general, and all its particulars. I am in favor of 
respecting its authority and obeying its injunctions ; 
and to the end of my life, shall do all in my power 
to fulfil, honestly and faithfully, all its provisions. I 
look upon the Compromise Measures as a just, proper, 
fair, and final adjustment of the questions to which 
they relate ; and no re-agitation of those questions, no 
new opening of them, no effort to create dissatisfac- 
tion with them, will ever receive from me the least 



ELECTION OP 1852 : LAST PHASES 403 

countenance or support, concurrence, or approval, at 
any time, or under any circumstances. n ' 

This letter, forthwith given to the press, served to 
make clear to the entire country the precise position 
which Webster occupied. There was little or nothing 
in it that was new ; but it at least demonstrated afresh 
that Webster stood absolutely immovable for finality. 
By conservatives its contents were received with favor, 
but by anti-slavery radicals, with forceful expressions 
of dissatisfaction. The assurances which it contained, 
however, did not shake the determination of the South- 
ern Whigs to give their support first of all to the can- 
didacy of Fillmore. Many expressed their willingness, 
in the event of the impossibility of procuring Fillmore's 
nomination, to turn to Webster, who was much more 
acceptable than Scott ; but it was apparent before the 
assembling of the Baltimore convention that only New 
England, as a sectioo, would vote for Webster on the 
first ballot. 2 The hope of the Webster campaigners 
lay in the preventioa of Northern defection to Scott 
before there should have arisen an opportunity for a 
Southern turning from Fillmore to Webster. 

The Whig conventiou, which assembled June 16th, 
has been characterized rightly as "a theatre of in- 
trigue. " ? On the opening day the Southern Whigs 
met and adopted a body of resolutions designed to 
conciliate all elements, and subsequently these were 
thrust through the convention without debate as the 
platform of the party. One of them proclaimed, in 
effect, the validity of the principle of "state rights," 

1 Webster to G. A. Tavenner, April 9, 1852. Van Tyne, "Let- 
ters of Daniel Webster," pp. 521-522. 

2 By reason of lingering discontent with the Ashburton treaty 
Maine, however, was certain to withhold her support. 

3 Stan wood, "The Presidency," p. 250. 



404 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

while another asserted that the Compromise measures 
of 1850, "the act known as the Fugitive Slave Law 
included, are received and acquiesced in by the Whig 
party of the United States as a settlement in principle 
and substance of the dangerous and exciting questions 
which they embrace " ; also that the strict enforcement 
of these measures would be insisted upon, and that all 
further agitation of " the question thus settled" would 
be deprecated and resisted. By way of concession to 
the Northern wing of the party, the term " final" was 
not employed ; but the finality of the Compromise was 
in effect declared, none the less. The platform had 
the approval of Webster's friends and of Webster 
himself. 

The contest for the nomination of candidates was 
prolonged and keen. On the first ballot Fillmore re- 
ceived 133 votes, Scott 131, and Webster 29. Webster 
had votes from all of the New England states except 
Maine, although he did not receive the unanimous 
support of the delegation from his own state. New 
York gave him two votes, Wisconsin three, and Cali- 
fornia one. The South gave him none at all. Fill- 
more received every Southern vote except one ; while 
Scott was given all of the votes from the North except 
the twenty-nine that were cast for Webster and sixteen 
that went to Fillmore. Succeeding ballots showed 
little change. The highest total attained by Webster 
was thirty-two. On the fiftieth ballot Southern votes 
began to be turned from Fillmore to Scott, and on the 
fifty-third the number of changes was sufficient to ef- 
fect a nomination. The final result was : Scott, 159 ; 
Fillmore, 112 ; Webster, 21. 

Inasmuch as under Whig practice a bare majority 
was required for a nomination, the conservatives who 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 405 

so persistently divided their support between Fillmore 
and Webster might easily, by combination, have car- 
ried the day. As Mr. Curtis observes, of the delegates 
who considered that the policy embodied in the Com- 
promise Measures ought to be adhered to, and that the 
candidate of the Whig party ought to be a real rep- 
resentative of that policy, there were at all times 
more than enough to have made Mr. Webster the 
nominee." 1 Similarly, there were enough to have 
nominated Mr. Fillmore. But no such rapprochement 
took place, despite the fact that Webster and Fillmore 
were upon the best of terms personally, that the two 
men were in Washington during the balloting in the 
neighboring city, that an intervening Sunday afforded 
special opportunity for negotiation, and, finally, that a 
delegate from Buffalo had all the while in his posses- 
sion a letter written by Fillmore withdrawing from the 
race, with instructions to present it to the convention 
at his discretion. Webster's strength with the con- 
vention was, of course, far greater than his quota of 
votes would seem to indicate. Yet, to a large degree, 
his strength was of such a sort that it could not be 
realized upon, i. <?., could not be converted into votes. 
He was the second choice of most of the Fillmore men. 
But these men were pledged to Fillmore as long as 
there should appear any chance whatsoever of his 
nomination, and the fact that Webster could not com- 
mand the united support of his own section, even of 
his own state, operated to prevent a turning to him. 
At one point during the balloting, after the nomina- 
tion of Fillmore was largely despaired of, the Southern 
friends of Webster proposed to deliver to the Massa- 
chusetts candidate one hundred and six Southern votes 
1 Curtis, " Webster," Vol. II, p, 620. 



406 DANIEL WEBSTER 

provided he could obtain as many as forty votes in the 
states north of Maryland. These, with the one vote 
from California which could be counted upon, would 
insure him the nomination. His Northern supporters 
worked desperately to meet the condition, but were 
unable to do so, and when the Southern break came it 
took the form of a slight, but decisive, defection from 
Fillmore to Scott. 

Both the action of the convention and the intrigues 
by which it had been accompanied betrayed the fact 
that the Whig party, far from possessing the solidarity 
and strength of conviction which was claimed for it, 
was in reality in imminent danger of dissolution. In 
its platform it looked strongly in one direction, in its 
nomination just as decidedly in another ; and events 
following the adjournment of the convention tended 
but to accentuate the weakness of position thus ex- 
hibited. On July 3d a group of Georgia Whigs, led 
by Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs, pub- 
lished a manifesto annouuciug their purpose to oppose 
the election of Scott, on the ground that he was not 
sufficiently committed to the finality of the Compromise 
measures. Another group formed an independent 
Webster ticket, and throughout the South generally it 
was made plain that the regular nominee of the party 
would receive scant support. Large numbers of 
Whigs avowed a purpose to support Pierce, in the 
promotion of whose election the strength of the Demo- 
cratic party, in both North and South, was solidly en- 
listed. On the other hand, the Free Soil element of 
the party could not acquiesce in either Baltimore plat- 
form, and at a convention held during the month of 
August John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, was placed 
in nomination. In Massachusetts the nomination of 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 407 

Scott was received coldly, and in time an independent 
Webster electoral ticket was put in the field. This 
nomination, as that made by the Georgia Whigs, and 
also one tendered by a Native American convention at 
Trenton, was received by Webster with no indication 
of acceptance or refusal. Throughout the country as a 
whole the campaign, barren of vital issues, was petty 
and uninteresting. 

To Webster the failure to obtain the nomination at 
Baltimore brought deep disappointment. Both be- 
cause of his age and increasing infirmity and because 
of the precarious condition of his party, failure at this 
point meant, and was understood to mean, that the 
long-coveted honor would never be attained. Out- 
wardly he maintained entire composure, and even an 
appearance of indifference ; but to his friends he con- 
fided freely his real feeling of regret. It was not so 
much the loss of the nomination that distressed him as 
the fact that, while the Southern delegates had pro- 
tested that they were ready to give him their support 
when once the nomination of Fillmore should have be- 
come impossible, they had failed actually to do so. 
The reasons which had prevented them from doing so 
were not of record, and on that account, it seemed to 
him, a " false chapter in the history of the country " 
was not unlikely to be written — a chapter in whose 
pages his hold upon the nation would be taken as in- 
dicated merely by the meagre vote at Baltimore for his 
nomination. So deeply was the nomination of Scott 
resented that throughout the course of the campaign 
Webster could never bring himself to give the Whig 
candidate an iota of support. Indeed, he freely 
avowed his belief that the party was approaching dis- 
solution, and he did not hesitate to advise his friends 



408 DANIEL WEBSTER 

to vote for Pierce, the one candidate who was com- 
mitted irrevocably to the upholding of the Compromise. 
He predicted, furthermore, that if, in the event of 
Pierce's election, the Democratic party should remain 
faithful to its platform it would long retain the confi- 
dence of the country and the power of administering 
the public affairs. 

The outcome of the campaign was the triumph, 
more overwhelming than any one had dared predict, 
of the Democrats. General Scott carried but four 
states — Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Ten- 
nessee — and obtained but forty- two electoral votes ; 
while the two branches of Congress remained solidly 
Democratic. But when the final show of strength 
took place the two most eminent founders and leaders 
of the defeated party were no more. When the con- 
vention at Baltimore was balloting upon candidates 
Clay lay dying from consumption in a hotel in 
Washington, although he lingered until June 29th. 
The death of Webster occurred at Marshfield on 
October 24th. 

The physical decline which culminated in Webster's 
death had set in with some rapidity soon after the 
assumption for the second time of the portfolio of 
State. It was attributable in part to the prolonged 
and severe exertions incident to an active public 
career, in part to debilitating annual attacks of hay- 
fever, but, at the last, mainly to an incurable affliction 
diagnosed as cirrhosis of the liver. When, on the 
9th of July, he reached Boston on his way to his 
Marshfield home Webster had been tendered a recep- 
tion, essentially non-partisan in character, which was 
declared by witnesses of both events to have been 
more imposing than that tendered General Lafayette 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 409 

in 1825, and at Marshfield a few days later his coining 
was honored by a general outpouring of the people 
from many miles around. Upon both occasions he 
spoke at length upon lines appropriate to the situa- 
tion, and these were the last public addresses which 
he was destined to be able to make. 1 On July 2Gth he 
communicated to the President his desire to retire from 
the cabinet. But Fillmore insisted that he retain his 
post, returning to Washington only when he should 
have recovered somewhat in health. Early in August 
he gained sufficient strength to enable him to make 
the journey, and he remained at the capital until 
September 8th. To his reiterated offers to resign the 
President replied that the office could not at the mo- 
ment be filled satisfactorily ; and he returned to 
Marshfield with the understanding that he should give 
attention from that place to such public matters as 
could not be postponed. 

On September 20th he went to Boston for the last 
time to consult his physician, Dr. Jeffries, and it is 
recorded that when, in the course of the visit, he con- 
trived to appear for a few moments at a social gather- 
ing at the house of a friend, all who saw him were 
startled by the look of suffering in his face and by his 
general appearance of feebleness. At Marshfield he 
continued for a time to entertain visitors, write letters 
to his friends, and make occasional excursions over his 
estate; but as the October days went by he grew 
steadily weaker, until by the middle of the month he 
was no longer able to leave the house. On the 15th 
he revised and corrected an inscription to be placed 
on his monument, dictated a few days before ; on the 
18th he undertook the preparation of his will ; and on 
1 " Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIII, pp. 528-542. 



410 DANIEL WEBSTEB 

this same day the last letter written by his own hand 
was addressed to the President. On the 21st he was 
told that the state elections in Pennsylvania and else- 
where had resulted in overwhelming victories for the 
Democrats. "Yes," was his response; "that party 
will sweep the country ; the Whig candidate will 
obtain but one or two states j and it is well j as a 
national party the Whigs are ended.' ' When it 
was mentioned to him that a friend in Boston had 
expressed the hope that he should remain firm in 
his opposition to the action of the Baltimore con- 
vention he requested, half-humorously, that the gentle- 
man be written to and told to "look over toward 
Charlestown and see if Bunker Hill monument is still 
standing ! " On the 22d he gave instructions for the 
farm work of the day and made provision for the pay- 
ing of the laborers what was due them. On Saturday, 
the 23d, his feebleness had so manifestly increased 
that he began directing, with remarkable fortitude 
and deliberation, the making of preparations for the 
end. To his physician he communicated his convic- 
tion that he should die during the coining night, and 
the physician could but express his concurrence in the 
prediction. He affixed his signature to the carefully 
drawn will, 1 spoke feelingly to his family and servants 
regarding his wishes for them, made solemn affirmation 
of his religious convictions, and expressed only the wish 
that he might be conscious of the act of dying. Some 
time after midnight he roused from a restless slumber 
long enough to utter very clearly the words, destined 
to become memorable, " I still live," and then relapsed 
into unconsciousness. At twenty -three minutes before 

1 The will is printed in "Writings and Speeches," Vol. XIII, 
pp. 586-591. 



ELECTION OP 1852 : LAST PHASES 411 

three o'clock Sunday morning, October 24th, the labored 
breathing ceased, and the end came. 

For the news of the bereavement the public was not 
wholly unprepared, yet the intelligence came as a 
shock, and by it a hush was spread throughout the 
length and breadth of the land. The instant feeling 
was that a pillar of the state had fallen, and from men 
of every 'class of society, of every political affiliation, 
and of every sectional attachment, rose tributes of 
praise for the citizen, the statesman, and the patriot. 
President Fillmore sent to Marshfield a representative 
of the State Department to propose and execute ar- 
rangements for a public funeral. "I wish to be 
buried," Webster, however, had affirmed in his will, 
" without the least show or ostentation, but in a 
manner respectful to my neighbors, whose kindness 
has contributed so much to the happiness of me and 
mine" ; and when this request became known, it was 
agreed that the family did the right thing in declining 
to permit a public funeral to be held. 

At noon on Friday, October 29th, the people of the 
community were admitted to the Webster home, and 
every one who desired to do so was allowed to view 
the remains of the fallen chieftain, reposing in a coffin 
placed upon the lawn in front of the mansion-house. 
It is said that not fewer than ten thousand men and 
women were present. After simple religious services 
had been held in the house, in the presence of the rela- 
tives and closer friends, the coffin was raised on the 
shoulders of six stalwart farmer neighbors who had 
asked the privilege and carried, followed by the male 
members of the family, the intimate friends, and the 
faithful servants, as chief mourners, to the ancient bury- 
ing-placeof Marshfield, where all that was mortal of the 



412 DANIEL WEBSTER 

great inau was committed to earth. "Daniel Web- 
ster," a plain-garbed spectator is reported to have 
exclaimed as he turned from the new-made grave, 
"the world, without you, will seem lonesome. " By 
hundreds of thousands of people, of every rank and 
profession, and in every section of the land, the feeliug 
was shared ; and even in European countries it was 
recognized that there had disappeared a figure which, 
in a generation notable for its statesmeu, orators, and 
diplomats, was worthy of comparison with the most 
masterful. 

Daniel Webster was not a paragon of virtues. He 
had faults, some of which were not only serious but in- 
excusable. His appetites were not always under con- 
trol. Although never guilty of peculation, he was 
habitually careless in money matters, and he was 
ready to accept the largesses of his friends when it 
would seem that every consideration of personal dig- 
nity would have interposed to prevent his doing so. 
He was inordinately fond of good living and prone to 
generosity which bordered closely upon prodigality. 
By his failure to keep under restraint the ambition 
which burned within him to attain the presidency he 
permitted his later years to be made feverish and un- 
happy and his useful uess to his generation to be im- 
paired. He did not desire the presidency more ardently 
than did Clay. The great Kentuckian had the trying 
experience of being chosen to bear his party's banner 
twice when there was but a moderate chance of success, 
only to be rejected as a candidate in 1840 aud in 1848 
when, as events proved, expectation of victory was 
well founded. Furthermore, Clay was loved by the 
mass of the people as Webster never was, and he had 
more right than had his compeer to expect of them an 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 413 

election to the highest office iu the land. Yet of the 
two men, Clay accepted his ill-fortune much the more 
patiently. The adulation which was heaped upon 
Webster by friends and admirers was unquestionably 
sufficient to turn the head of an ordinary person. But 
Webster was not an ordinary person, and it must be 
reckoned against him that in his later years he allowed 
himself to become at times dictatorial and overbearing 
and to be guilty of pettishness and ingratitude. His 
moral vigor, in the trenchant estimate of Mr. Lodge, 
was not equal to his intellectual force ; and while, as 
this biographer goes on to point out, it is not often 
that both moral and intellectual powers of a superla- 
tive order are combined in a single individual, had they 
been so combined in Webster the product must have 
been one of the most extraordinary of characters. 

The physical endowments of the man were much 
above the average. When in his prime he possessed a 
robustness of which his childhood gave small promise ; 
and although his last ten years were shadowed by dis- 
ease, his bodily vigor was such as to enable him to 
attain the Scriptural age of threescore and ten. In his 
social relationships, as in his professional and public 
life, an asset of very distinct value was the majesty of 
his personal presence. He was five feet ten inches in 
height ; he had an enormous chest measurement ; his 
head, which was one of the largest ever borne on 
human shoulders, was nobly formed ; his brow was 
high and broad ; his hair was straight and black ; his 
complexion was swarthy ; and his eyes were large, 
deep-set, and dark, in moments of earnestness flashing 
with an intensity that was fairly startling. His 
visage, although usually kindly, was upon occasion 
stern, with sometimes a touch of melancholy. In 



414 DANIEL WEBSTEK 

every look and gesture there was the element of com- 
maud. When he walked down State Street men forgot 
business in gazing upon him ; when he but entered a 
room voices were hushed as if the newcomer had been 
a god. 

Physical impressiveness was matched by excellent 
qualities of character and by extraordinary powers of 
intellect. Indeed, it was chiefly these, rather than the 
stature and Jove-like brow, that lent to the presence of 
the mau its attractive, even awe-inspiring, aspect. 
Webster was the soul of hospitality, and his various 
places of residence, whether the humble home in Ports- 
mouth, the capacious house in Summer Street, or the 
rambling, but splendid, dwelling at Marshfield, were 
ever shrines of neighborliness and good fellowshii). 
From childhood he was a voracious reader, and his 
ability to remember what he read was equaled only by 
his power of assimilating it. Fluent of speech and 
widely informed, he was a splendid conversationalist ; 
yet he commonly preferred to listen rather than to 
talk. Without being himself a humorist, he had a 
well-developed sense of humor. His recorded speeches, 
which are peculiarly stately and serious, furnish vir- 
tually no evidence of this, but the lack is supplied by 
his more intimate correspondence and by the testimony 
of his associates in daily life. He liked a joke, and 
upon occasion enjoyed sheer boisterousness and fun. 
He was not inapt at playful allusion, unexpected turns 
of expression, and mock heroics. But he scorned 
humor as a mere means of keeping his auditors inter- 
ested, and he seldom or never indulged in it in his 
public addresses, or upon any occasion with premedi- 
tation. 

Webster was an ardent lover of Nature, especially in 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 415 

her larger and grander aspects. A boyhood spent 
among the New Hampshire hills developed in him a 
sense of intimacy with trees and streams and wild ani- 
mals which was never lost. He was fond of hunting 
and fishing and of every sort of outdoor amusement, 
and, wearied by the routine of legal practice or of 
statecraft, he not infrequently turned with boyish de- 
light to the occupations of the farm. He rejoiced in 
the sunrise and, when at Marshfield, made it a rule 
never to miss seeing it. Above all other natural 
things, he loved the sea. Its vastness and its imper- 
turbability appealed to his sense of grandeur, and he 
was not content until he had made for himself a home 
where he could look out across the Atlantic's broad 
expause, ever varying in hue and mood, yet ever the 
same. Among animals he liked best the massive, 
slow-moving ox. Shortly before his death, after it 
had ceased to be possible for him to go out-of-doors, 
he had his finest oxen driven to the lawn about his 
house in order that he might have the satisfaction of 
gazing upon their glossy coats and wondering eyes. It 
has been said, indeed, that more than his hospitality 
his herds of fine oxen kept him poor. 1 

Love of country became in Webster a veritable pas- 
sion. His speeches glow with patriotic fervor, aud the 
patriotism which is displayed in them was no mere 
patriotism of words. When he was first elected to Con 
gress he had personally, perhaps, more to gain than to 
lose by entering the public service. He was then but 
a young, comparatively unknown, and far from afllu 
ent lawyer. When, however, in 1822 he was returned 
to the House of Eepresentatives from the Boston dis- 
trict he was fast becoming the most highly reputed and 

1 McCall, "Daniel Webster," p. 121. 



416 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the most highly paid legal practitioner in America. 
From that year until his death he was never for more 
than a few months at a time out of public office. He 
served nine years, in all, in the House of representa- 
tives, nineteen in the Senate, and somewhat more than 
four as secretary of state. Although, despite the ap- 
propriation of a large portion of his time and energy 
to his public duties, he became and long remained the 
acknowledged leader of the American bar, neither the 
volume nor the excellence of his legal achievement 
could be what, under freer conditions, it might have 
been ; aud the pecuniary sacrifice which was involved 
was very great, the more so by reason of his prodigal- 
ity in money matters and his taste for somewhat 
sumptuous living. Patriotism, it should be added, was 
tempered almost invariably by good sense and by the 
spirit of fairness. An expansionist by nature, Web- 
ster could oppose the American demand for the whole 
of Oregon as unjust, that for the annexation of Texas 
as likely to lead to war, and that for the conquest of 
Mexican territory as tending to aggravate the contro- 
versy of the sections upon the growing question of 
slavery. If in his famous letter to Hulsemann he per- 
mitted himself to indulge in the most brazen spread- 
eagleism, it was solely, as he was careful to explain to 
his friends, in the hope that national pride might be 
stimulated to counteract the sectional animosities of 
the time. 

It may be doubted whether in sheer power of intel- 
lect Webster has been matched by any public man in 
the history of the country. In his own generation he 
was clearly the superior of Clay and of Calhoun, and, 
less markedly, of John Quincy Adams and Chief Jus- 
tice Marshall j and although the native mental ability 






ELECTION OF 1852: LAST PHASES 417 

of Lincoln was probably not inferior, opportunities of 
academic education and of lifelong contact with the 
sharpest wits of bench, bar, and forum gave Webster 
a considerable advantage over Lincoln in the attain- 
ment of purely intellectual strength. It is true that 
Webster's intellectuality was fitful. He was not at all 
times " on edge," and some of his legal arguments and 
congressional speeches were of the most ordinary char- 
acter. In the make-up of the man there were pro- 
nounced strains of irresolution and indolence. The 
fact is one which he was the first to recognize, and in 
his correspondence he complains again and again of 
having fallen into a slough of lethargy from which he 
was unable to extricate himself. His intellectual 
power is exhibited, not in an ability to work day after 
day and year after year at high tension, but rather iu 
a capacity for prodigious mental performances under 
pressure of suddenly risen emergency. The most mas- 
terful of all of his forensic efforts, notably the Second 
Eeply to Hayne and the speech of the Seventh of 
March, were preceded by but a few hours of direct 
preparation. No man not possessed of a mental equip- 
ment of the first order could have achieved equal 
results under the circumstances. Eeteutiveness of 
memory, quickness and depth of perception, compre- 
hensiveness of view, sanity and fairness of judgment, 
orderliness of thought, and aptness in expression — 
these are the qualities which combined to produce in 
Webster a mental forcefuluess well-nigh unsurpassable. 
The most brilliant and the most lasting of Webster's 
achievements were accomplished through the medium 
of eloquence of speech. Regarding the position to be 
assigned him among American orators there is little or 
no difference of opinion. He was not always as felici- 



418 DANIEL WEBSTER 

tous in expression or as splendidly imaginative as was 
Choate, or as finished in style as was Everett. But no 
other American has exhibited so perfect a combination 
of all the varied elements that combine to produce 
true oratorical power. Aud amoug orators of other 
portions of the English-speaking world none rival him 
closely save Burke, Fox, and Sheridan. The qualities 
of his oratory which are most conspicuous are those of 
intellectuality, stateliness, freedom from invective, and 
patriotic spirit. In speeches which are so nearly ex- 
temporaneous as were most of those which he delivered 
there will be included inevitably a certain amount of 
that which is trivial and irrelevant. The proportion 
of this sort of thing in Webster's addresses is, however, 
small. Men who heard them were impressed with the 
solidity of their texture, with the range and depth of 
the information upon which their author drew in their 
composition. And a study of them nowadays serves 
but to confirm this impression. Their glitter was that 
of sharply polished fact, not that of flashy nothingness. 

Webster was not at his best in the give-and-take of 
every-day debate. He was not notably adept at rapier- 
like thrusts. He rose to the full measure of his ability 
only upon some solemn occasion for which he made 
deliberate preparation, such as the Plymouth com- 
memoration or the Bunker Hill celebrations ; or 
when, aroused to the necessity of defending some great 
principle or measure upon which he felt deeply, he 
mustered the full quota of his physical and intellectual 
powers and hurled himself into the combat. His best 
speeches are, therefore, with few exceptions, his 
lengthiest. Their superiority arises in part from their 
very massi veness and conclusiveness. 

By reason of the circumstance that his name is asso- 



ELECTION OF 1852 : LAST PHASES 419 

ciated with the initiation of few legislative or other 
public measures, it sometimes has been assumed that 
Webster's statesmanship was not of a constructive 
character. It certainly is true that Webster looms less 
prominently as an author of bills and of governmental 
policies than do several of his contemporaries, notably 
Clay, Calhoun, Jackson, and even Benton and Van 
Buren. There are, however, two facts to be observed. 
In the first place, not only did Webster, during his 
tenure of the secretaryship of state, display the most 
splendid qualities of originality and constructiveness ; 
during his prolonged service in the two branches of 
Congress he became the author of a large number of 
bills of importance and participated in the framing of 
many others. It happened that many of the measures 
with which he was closely identified dealt with ques- 
tions, especially judicial and financial, which were 
overshadowed by other and more largely political 
issues ; and it happened that many of them failed of 
adoption. But it should not be overlooked that a 
large proportion of these measures were, in their es- 
sentials, adopted after the lapse of time, and that the 
statesmanship which underlay them received complete 
vindication. 

In the second place, it is to be observed that the 
statesmanship of Webster was constructive in the most 
fundamental of all possible senses, in that it had for its 
aim nothing less than the moulding of public senti- 
ment concerning the Constitution to accord with the 
changing needs of the country. The Constitution was, 
and is, susceptible of the most varied interpretation 
and development. Men in Webster's day differed no 
more widely in their understanding of the instrument 
than had their fathers. But a concurrence of social 



420 DANIEL WEBSTER 

and economic circumstances rendered their differences 
of view far more dangerous than had been those of 
earlier times, and it became Webster's task to proclaim 
to the new generation, in season and out, those funda- 
mentals of constitutional interpretation by whose ac- 
ceptance alone the perpetuity of the nation could be 
assured. Not all men were convinced, and in the 
course of time the country was deluged with the blood 
of a fraternal war. So long, however, as the gener- 
ation of men to which Webster belonged continued in 
control of the councils of the nation, the conflagration 
was averted. To the very end the position maintained 
by that generation — the generation of Clay, Adams, 
Jackson, Calhoun, Van Buren, Benton, Fillmore, Cor- 
win, Berrien, and Mangum — upon the momentous 
issues of slavery and disunion was of a character es- 
sentially conservative; and by no one was the. con- 
servative attitude cultivated more assiduously than by 
Webster himself. It was only with the rise to domi- 
nance of the generation of Lincoln, Seward, Chase, 
Sumner, Wade, Wilson, Toombs, Davis, Yancey, and 
Stephens that the spirit of radicalism came gradually 
into the ascendant ; and this was the generation which 
waged the war. When the contest came, it was the 
creed of the Union as formulated most lucidly by 
Webster that supplied the grounds upon which the 
issue was prosecuted to the bitter end. It is to the 
essentials of that creed that men of all sections and 
parties to-day pledge their fidelity, under the cegis of 
a chastened and hopeful nationality. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

In the following list the reader will find mention of the principal 
materials for the study of the life of Webster in both its private and 
its public aspects : 

Writings of Webster. The speeches and state papers of Webster have 
been published, singly and in collections, in numerous editions. 
The earliest collection of speeches was published at Boston in 
1830 in a volume entitled " Speeches and Forensic Arguments by 
Daniel Webster." Of this volume there were several reprints. 
In 1835 a second volume, containing speeches not in the first one, 
and bearing the same title, was published. In 1843 a third vol- 
ume was added to the series, containing the more important 
speeches delivered between 1835 ant ^ I ^4 1 « ^ n ^48 tne " Diplo- 
matic and Official Papers of Daniel Webster " was published, 111 
one volume, by the house of Harper at New York. In 185 1 an 
edition of the " Works of Webster," in six volumes, and edited by 
Edward Everett, was published at Boston by Little, Brown and 
Company. As early as 1857 this collection had reached its tenth 
edition. It had the benefit of a certain amount of supervision by 
Webster himself, but it was, of necessity, very incomplete. In 
1903 a new, full, and substantially definitive edition was published 
under the title " The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster " 
(Boston, Little, Brown and Company), in eighteen volumes, 
edited by J. W. Mclntire, and designated as the " National Edi 
tion." Included in this edition is a vast quantity of materials 
gathered from newspapers, pamphlets, public documents, and 
correspondence preserved in the archives of the New Hampshire 
Historical Society and in numerous other places. Other collec- 
tions of prime importance are Fletcher Webster (ed.), " The Pri- 
vate Correspondence of Daniel Webster," 2 vols. (Boston, 1857), 
and Claude H. Van Tyne (ed.), "The Letters of Daniel Web- 
ster" (New York, 1902). With a few minor corrections, the 
" Private Correspondence " is reprinted as Vols. XVII-XVII1 of 
the " Writings and Speeches." The first of the two volumes con- 
tains the Webster " Autobiography," begun in 1830, but discon- 
tinued with the events of 1816. Almost all of Webster's more 
important speeches were printed for contemporary circulation in 
pamphlet form, and collections of these brochures are preserved 
in many of the larger libraries of the country. 



422 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Writings of Other Public Men. Paul L. Ford (ed.), " The Writings 
of Thomas Jefferson," 10 vols. (New York, 1892- 1899); Gaillard 
Hunt (ed.), " The Writings of James Madison," 9 vols. (New 
York, 1900-1910); Stanislaus M. Hamilton (ed.), "The Writ- 
ings of James Monroe," 7 vols. (New York, 1898-1903); Charles 

F. Adams (ed.), " Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, comprising 
portions of his Diary from 1795 to 1848," 12 vols. (Boston, 1874- 
1877) ; Worthington C. Ford (ed.), " The Writings of John 

Quincy Adams," Vol. I published (New York, 1913 ) ; 

Thomas H. Benton, " Thirty Years' View ; or, a History of the 
Working of the American Government," 1820-1850, 2 vols. (New 
York, 1854) ; William Stickney (ed.), Amos Kendall's " Auto- 
biography " (Boston, 1872) ; Calvin Colton (ed.), " Life, Corre- 
spondence, and Speeches of Henry Clay," 6 vols. (New York, 
1857); Richard K. Cralle (ed.), « The Works of John Caldwell 
Calhoun," 6 vols. (New York, 1853— 1855) ; J. Franklin Jameson 
(ed.), " Correspondence of John C. Calhoun," in Annual Report 
of American Historical Association for 1899, Vol. II (Washing- 
ton, 1900); Edward Everett, " Orations and Speeches on Various 
Occasions," 4 vols. (Boston, 1853-1868); Samuel G.Brown (ed.), 
"The Works of Rufus Choate," 2 vols. (Boston, 1862); and 

G. E. Baker (ed.), « The Works of William H. Seward," 5 vols. 
(New York, 1853- 1884). 

Newspapers. Boston Atlas, Daily Advertiser ; New York Tribune, 
Times, Courier and Inquirer, Evening Post, Herald ; Charleston 
Mercury; Richmond Enquirer; National Intelligencer ; Niles' 
Weekly Register (later National Register}. 

Eulogies. Among the more important of the vast number of printed 
contemporary sermons and other discourses on the career and char- 
acter of Webster, the following may be mentioned : Henry A. 
Boardman, " A Discourse on the Life and Character of Daniel 
Webster" (Philadelphia, 1852); Theodore Parker, "A Discourse 
Occasioned by the Death of Daniel Webster," preached at the 
Melodeon on Sunday, October 31, 1852 (Boston, 1853); T. T. 
Davis, " Eulogy delivered in Syracuse, N. Y., November 13, 
1852" (Syracuse, 1852); R. D. Hitchcock, " A Eulogy on Daniel 
Webster, delivered before the Students of Bowdoin College, No- 
vember 12, 1852" (Brunswick, 1852); Timothy Walker, " Ora- 
tion on the Life and Public Services of Daniel Webster, delivered 
before the Bar of Cincinnati, November 22, 1852" (Cincinnati, 
1S52) ; W. P. Lunt, " A Discourse delivered in Quincy, Mass., on 
Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1852, commemorative of Dan- 
iel Webster" (Boston, 1852) ; Alphonso Taft, "An Oration on 
the Life and Public Services of Daniel Webster, delivered De- 
cember 12, 1852" (Cincinnati, 1852); " Obituary Addresses on 
the Occasion of the Death of Daniel Webster, delivered in the 
Senate and House of Representatives, December 14-15, 1852 " 
(Washington, 1853); E. D. Sanborn, " A Eulogy on Daniel Web- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 423 

ster, delivered before the Students of Phillips Academy, December 
29, 1852" (Hanover, 1853) ; H. W. Allen, " Eulogy on the Char- 
acter and Services of the Late Daniel Webster, pronounced at the 
request of the Select and Common Councils of Philadelphia, Jan- 
uary 18, 1853" (Philadelphia, 1853); Hiram Ketchum, "A 
Eulogy on the Late Daniel Webster before the Faculty and Stu- 
dents of Yale College, January 18, 1853 " (New Haven, 1S53) ; 
and Rufus Choate, " A Discourse before the Faculty, Students, 
and Alumni of Dartmouth College, July 27, 1853 " (Boston, 
1853). See Charles H. Hart, " Bibliographia Websteriana. A 
List of the Publications occasioned by the death of Daniel Web- 
ster" (Philadelphia, 1853). 

Biographies. The standard biography, written in part from first-hand 
knowledge, but inclined to be eulogistic, is George Ticknor Cur- 
tis, "Life of Daniel Webster," 2 vols. (New York, 1870). Mr. 
Curtis was one of Webster's literary executors. The best brief 
biography, although open to criticism in some of its judgments, is 
Henry Cabot Lodge, " Daniel Webster " (Boston, 1883). Other 
more recent biographies or biographical sketches are : John Bach 
McMaster, " Daniel Webster " (New York, 1902), in part re- 
printed from the Century Magazine ; Norman Hapgood, " Dan- 
iel Webster " (Boston, 1899), in the " Beacon Biographies " ; 
Samuel W. McCall, " Daniel Webster " (Boston, 1902), the Web- 
ster Centennial Oration delivered at the Dartmouth commemora- 
tive celebration of September, 1901 ; and Sidney George Fisher, 
"The True Daniel Webster" (Philadelphia, 1911). Among 
older books of a biographical nature may be mentioned Charles 
W. March, " Reminiscences of Congress " (New York, 1850) ; 
B. F. Tefft, " Daniel Webster, His Life and Character " (Roches- 
ter, 1852) ; Joseph Banvard, " The American Statesman ; or, the 
Life and Character of Daniel Webster " (Boston, 1853); Charles 
Lanman, " The Private Life of Daniel Webster " (New York, 
1858) ; and Peter Harvey, " Reminiscences and Anecdotes of 
Daniel Webster " (Boston, 1877). Finally should be mentioned 
Edward Everett's " Biographical Memoir of Daniel Webster," 
printed in the " Works of Webster," Vol. I, pp. 1-160, and in 
the " Writings and Speeches," Vol. I, pp. 1 — 175. 

General Essays, Speeches, and Sketches. Joel Parker, « Daniel Web- 
ster as a Jurist" (Cambridge, 1853); Henry Cabot Lodge, 
" Daniel Webster," in " Studies in History " (Boston, 1884), and 
" Daniel Webster," in " A Fighting Frigate and Other Essays and 
Addresses" (New York, 1902) ; Everett P. Wheeler, " The Con- 
stitutional Law of the United States as Moulded by Daniel Web- 
ster " (New York, 1904), and " Daniel Webster, the Expounder 
of the Constitution" (New York, 1905); Albert E. Pillsbury, 
"Daniel Webster the Orator" (Boston, 1903); Elizabeth P. 
Gould, " John Adams and Daniel Webster as Schoolmasters " 
(Boston, 1903) ; E. P. Whipple, " Great Speeches and Orations 



424 BIBLIOGBAPHY 

of Daniel Webster, with an Essay on Webster as a Master of 
English Style " (Boston, 1879) ; Josiah H. Benton, « A Notable 
Libel Case ; the Criminal Prosecution of Theodore Lyman, Jr., 
by Daniel Webster in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachu- 
setts," November Term, 1828 (Boston, 1904); Eugene Pivary, 
"Webster and Kossuth" (Philadelphia, 1909); and William C. 
Wilkinson, " Daniel Webster, a Vindication ; with other Histor- 
ical Essays" (New York and London, 191 1). Of addresses upon 
commemorative occasions, in addition to the eulogies heretofore 
mentioned, there are many. The more important are : Edward 
Everett, " An Oration on the Occasion of the Dedication of the 
Statue of Daniel Webster in Boston, September 17, 1859 " (Bos- 
ton, 1859) ; " Proceedings at the Inauguration of the Statue of 
Daniel Webster, erected in Central Park, New York, July 4, 
1876" (New York, 1876) ; T. H. Cummings (ed.), " The Web- 
ster Centennial. Proceedings of the Webster Historical Society 
at Marshfield, Mass., October 12, 1882" (Boston, 1883); and 
Ernest M. Hopkins (ed.), " The Proceedings of the Webster Cen- 
tennial. The Commemoration by Dartmouth College of the 
Services of Daniel Webster to the College and the State" (Han- 
over, 1902). 

General Histories of the Period and Monographs. James Schouler, 
«« History of the United States," 7 vols. (New York, 1880-1913) ; 
John Bach McMaster, " History of the People of the United 
States," 8 vols. (New York, 1883-1913) ; Albert B. Hart (ed.), 
" The American Nation " (New York, 1904-1907), Vols. XII- 
XVIII ; Hermann Von Hoist, " Constitutional and Political His- 
tory of the United States," 8 vols. (Chicago, 1885-1892); James 
Ford Rhodes, " History of the United States from the Compro- 
mise of 1850," 7 vols. (New York, 1893-1906) ; Henry Wilson, 
" The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," 3 vols. 
(Boston, 1872-1877); Edward Stanwood, " History of the Presi- 
dency" (Boston, 1898), and « History of American Tariff Con- 
troversies," 2 vols. (Boston, 1903) ; Charles McCarthy, " The 
Antimasonic Party " (American Historical Association Report, 
1902, Vol. I) ; Jesse S. Reeves, " American Diplomacy under 
Tyler and Polk" (Baltimore, 1907). 

Biographies of Public Men. Henry Adams, " Life of Albert Gallatin " 
(Philadelphia, 1879); Sidney H. Gay, " James Madison" (Bos- 
ton, 1884); Gaillard Hunt, "Life of James Madison" (New 
York, 1902) ; Henry C. Lodge, " Life and Letters of George 
Cabot" (Boston, 1878); Daniel C. Gilman, "James Monroe" 
(Boston, 1883); William G. Sumner, " Andrew Jackson" (rev. 
ed., Boston, 1899) ; John S. Bassett, " Life of Andrew Jackson," 
2 vols. (New York, 191 1) ; John T. Morse, "John Quincy 
Adams " (Boston, 1882) ; Edward M. Shepard, " Martin Van 
Buren" (Boston, 1888) ; Lyon G. Tyler, " Letters and Times of 
the Tylers," 3 vols. (Richmond, 1884-1896) ; Carl Schurz, 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 425 

" Henry Clay," 2 vols. (Boston, 1887); Thomas H.Clay, " Henry 
Clay" (Philadelphia, 1910) ; Andrew C. McLaughlin, "Lewis 
Cass " (Boston, 1891) ; Hermann Von Hoist, " JohnC. Calhoun " 
(Boston, 1882) ; Gaillard Hunt, " John C. Calhoun" (Philadel- 
phia, 1908); Theodore Roosevelt, "Thomas II. Benton" (Bos- 
ton, 1888) ; Joseph M. Rogers, " Thomas H. Benton" (Philadel- 
phia, 1905); Frederic Bancroft, " Life of William H. Seward," 2 
vols. (New York, 1900); Thornton II. Lothrop, " William II. 
Seward" (Boston, 1896); Edward E. Hale, " William II. Sew- 
ard " (Philadelphia, 19 10) ; Albert B. Hart, " Salmon P. Chase " 
(Boston, 1899) ; William W. Story, " Life and Letters of Joseph 
Story," 2 vols. (Boston, 185 1). 



INDEX 



Adams, John, Webster's eulogy 
on, 160-161. 

Adams, John Quincy, presidential 
candidate in 1824, 149-152; 
policy in respect to appoint- 
ments, 153-155 ; candidate in 
1828, 157-158; supported by 
Webster, 190-19 1. 

Andover, Webster speaks at, 
324-327. 

Antimasonic Party, Webster's at- 
titude toward, 233-234 ; nomi- 
nates Wirt for the presidency, 

235- 

Apportionment, Webster's report 

upon, 244-245. 
Aroostook War, 308-309. 
Ashburton, Lord, negotiates treaty 

of Washington, 308-314. 
Austria, protests against the Mann 

mission, 390. 

Baldwin, Henry, introduces 
tariff bill in 1820, 173. 

Baltimore, Democrats nominate 
Pierce at, 397 ; Whigs nomi- 
nate Scott at, 403-404. 

Bank, established in 1816, 100- 
106 ; Jackson's attitude toward, 
238 ; veto of bill to re-charter, 
239-242; bills to re-charter 
vetoed by Tyler, 299-300. 

Benton, Thomas H., speaks on 
Foote's Resolution, 207. 

Birney, James G., nominated for 
president in 1 843, 323. 

Bonus Bill, supported by Webster, 
109. 

Boscawen, Webster begins prac- 
tice of law at, 61. 



Boston, .Webster studies law in, 
55-57 J Webster removes to, 
in; constitutional convention 
at, 1 26- 13 1 ; Webster elected 
to Congress from, 135-136. 

Boston Anthology, Webster's 
contributions to, 62. 

Brinkerhoff, Jacob, author of the 
Wilmot provisos, 350. 

Brown, Francis, appointed presi- 
dent of Dartmouth College, 1 14. 

Buchanan, James, presidential 
candidate in 1852, 397. 

Buckminster, John S., tutor of 
Webster at Exeter Academy, 3 1 . 

Buffalo, Webster speaks at, 388- 

3§9- 
Bunker Hill, corner-stone of 
monument laid, 159; Web- 
ster's oration at completion of 
monument, 320-322. 

Calhoun, John C, chairman of 
House Committee on Foreign 
Relations, 82 ; reports bill for 
repeal of embargo of 18 13, 94 ; 
introduces Bank Bill of 1816, 
105 ; introduces Bonus Bill, 
109 ; vice-presidential candi- 
date in 1824, 151 ; fails to at- 
tain the presidency, 230 ; 
speaks in opposition to the 
Force Bill, 252 ; becomes sec- 
retary of state, 329 ; speech on 
Compromise of 1850, 368. 

California, question of status of 
slavery in, 364-365 ; discovery 
of gold, 365 ; adopts a consti- 
tution, 366 ; admitted as a free 
state, 367. 



INDEX 



427 



Capon Springs, Webster speaks 
at, 389. 

Carlyle, Thomas, estimate of 
Webster, 287-288. 

Caroline, destruction of, 305. 

Cass, Lewis, nominated for presi- 
dency in 1848, 355 ; defeated, 
360 ; presidential candidate in 
1852, 397. 

Caucus, Webster's objection to, 

I 5 2 - 

Chase, Salmon P., speech on 

Compromise of 1850, 374-375. 

Choate, Rufus, succeeds Webster 
in the Senate, 296. 

Clay, Henry, reelected Speaker, 
82 ; defends Webster's Greek 
resolution, 142 ; presidential 
candidate in 1824, 149-152; 
views on the tariff, 175-178; 
presidential candidate in 1832, 
231-237, 245 ; advocates a 
compromise tariff measure, 250- 
254 ; introduces resolution to 
censure Jackson, 261 ; fails to 
attain presidential nomination 
in 1840, 290; refuses to enter 
Harrison's cabinet, 293 ; in- 
troduces resolutions in Senate 
in 1 84 1, 297-298; presidential 
candidate in 1844, 3 2 3» 33° '> 
defeated by Polk, 333; pro- 
poses Compromise measures, 
366-368. 

Constitution, interpreted by Web- 
ster in debate with Hayne, 
213-220 ; and in reply to Cal- 
houn in 1833, 252-254. 

Crawford, William H., presi- 
dential candidate in 1824, 151. 

Creole, case of, 3 1 2-3 1 3. 

Crimes Act, passed, 146. 

Cuba, filibustering expeditions of 

Lopez, 394-395- 
Cumberland Road Bill, supported 

by Webster, 147-148. 
Currency, demoralization during 

war of 181 2, 10 1 ; Webster's 

views in 1833, 260-261 ; dis- 



orders in Van Buren's admin- 
istration, 280-281 ; proposals 
for reform, 284. 

Dallas, Alexander J., recom- 
mends establishment of a Bank, 
10 1 ; report on the tariff, 107. 

Dartmouth College, Webster en- 
ters, 34; history, 35; Web- 
ster's experiences at, 36-45 ; 
Phi Beta Kappa oration at, 77 ; 
case of, 113-119; case before 
the Supreme Court, 1 19-126; 
decision of the case, 125-126. 

Democratic Party, origins, 157- 
158, 229; in election of 1836, 
275-280; in election of 1 840, 
291-293 ; nominates James K. 
Polk, 331 ; success in election 
of 1844, ZZZ'y defeat in 1848, 
355-360; recovers strength in 
1850-1851,396; nominates 
Pierce for the presidency, 397 ; 
triumph of 1852, 408. 

Douglas, Stephen A., advocates 
" squatter sovereignty," 364 ; 
presidential candidate in 1852, 

397- 

Election of 1824, 148-155 ; of 
1828, 157-158; of 1832,231- 
237; of 1836, 274-280; of 
1840, 289-293 ; of 1844, 330- 
333; of 1848, 355-36o; of 
1852, 395-408. 

Elms Farm, location, 23. 

Embargo, Webster's attitude 
toward act of 1807, 75-76 ; act 
of 1813 repealed, 94-96. 

Erie Railroad, opened, 388. 

Expunging Resolution, introduced 
by Benton, 270 ; opposed by 
Webster, 270-271. 

Faneuil Hall, controversy over 
closing to Webster, 387-388. 

Fillmore, Millard, elected vice- 
president, 360 ; succeeds to the 
presidency, 375 ; appoints Web- 



428 



INDEX 



ster secretary of state, 382- 
383; candidate for the presi- 
dential nomination in 1852, 
397-398, 403-406. 

Fletcher, Grace, married to Web- 
ster, 67 ; character, 68. 

Foote, Samuel A., introduces 
resolution regarding public 
lands, 206. 

Force Bill, recommended by Jack- 
son, 249 ; enacted, 254. 

Fiance, friction with in Jackson's 
administration, 265-268. 

Free Soil Party, Webster's lack 
of sympathy with, 359. 

Fryeburg Academy, Webster 
teaches in, 49-50. 

Fugitive Slave Law, attacked, 
385-386. 

Gore, Christopher, Webster 
studies in office of, 55-57 ; ad- 
vises Webster not to accept a 
judicial clerkship, 57. 

Great Britain, visited by Web- 
ster, 286-288 ; difficulties of 
United States with, 304-307 ; 
treaty of Washington concluded 
with, 309-314; influence in 
Texas feared, 328-329 ; settle- 
ment of Oregon controversy 

with, 337-339- 

Greece, struggle for independ- 
ence, 139; Webster's speech 
concerning, 139-143. 

Guadelupe Hidalgo, treaty of, 

354- 

Hanover, N. H., Webster's 
Fourth of July oration in 1800, 

44- 

Harrisburg, Whig convention at, 
290. 

Harrison, William H., nomi- 
nated for presidency in 1836, 
279 ; nominated in 1839, 290 ; 
elected president, 293 ; offers 
cabinet posts to Clay and Web- 
ster, 293-295 ; death, 297. 



Hartford Convention, 97-98. 

Hayne, Robert Y., early political 
career, 207 ; debate with Web- 
ster, 208-224. 

Holmes, John, in Dartmouth Col- 
lege Case, 118, 124. 

Hopkinson, Joseph, in Dartmouth 
College Case, 1 18. 

Hungary, Mann's mission to, 390 ; 
arrival of Louis Kossuth from, 

392. 

Hiilsemann, Baron, presents Aus- 
trian protest against Mann mis- 
sion, 390 ; receives reply from 
Webster, 390-391 ; protests 
against reception of Kossuth, 

39 2 -393. 

Illinois, Webster acquires land 

in, 283-284. 
Independent Treasury, estab- 
lished, 284 ; abolished, 298 ; 

reestablished, 344. 
Ingersoll, Charles J., attack upon 

Webster, 339-342. 
Internal Improvements, Webster 

supports the Bonus Bill, 109 ; 

favors Cumberland Road Bill, 

147. 

Jackson, Andrew, presidential 
candidate in 1824, 149-152; 
candidate in 1828, 157-158; 
opposed by Webster, 190 ; in- 
augurated president, 194-195 ; 
first annual message, 205 ; ve- 
toes Maysville Road Bill, 226 ; 
favors Van Buren as successor, 
231 ; vetoes Bank Bill, 239- 
242; reelected in 1832, 245; 
issues proclamation against 
South Carolina nullifiers, 246- 
247 ; recommends enactment 
of Force Bill, 249 ; determines 
upon removal of deposits, 259- 
260 ; protests against censure 
by Senate, 262 ; assumes firm 
tone toward France, 265-266 ; 
issues Specie Circular, 281. 



INDEX 



429 



Jefferson, Thomas, Webster's 
eulogy on, 160-161. 



reply to Webster's resolutions 
of 1813, 85-86. 



Kingston, birthplace of Ebenezer 

Webster, 17. 
Koszta Case, 393. 

Liberty Party, convention of 

1843* 3 2 3- 
Lincoln, Levi, refuses to be 

candidate for the Senate, 164. 

Lopez, Narcisco, filibustering ex- 
peditions, 394-395* 

Lyman, Theodore, sued by Web- 
ster for libel, 191- 194. 

Madison, James, war policy 
called in question, 83-85 ; de- 
mands increase of the army, 
97 ; vetoes Bank Bill of 1815, 
102 ; approves Bank Bill of 
1816, 106; vetoes Bonus Bill, 
109. 

McLeod, Alexander, case of, 305- 

3°7> 339-34L 
Mallary, Rollin C, introduces 

tariff bill, 181. 

Mann, Dudley A., mission to 
Austria- Hungary, 390. 

Marcy, William L., presidential 
candidate in 1852, 397. 

Marshall, John, renders decision 
in Dartmouth College Case, 
125. 

Marshfield, acquired and de- 
veloped by Webster, 3 1 7-3 19. 

Mason, Jeremiah, Webster's 
earlier acquaintance with, 70- 
71 ; attorney in Dartmouth 
College Case, 115. 

Massachusetts, revision of consti- 
tution in 1820, 1 26-1 3 1. 

Mexico, war with, 344-346 ; 
treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, 

354. 
Mills, Elijah H., retirement from 

Senate, 163. 
Monroe, James, explanation in 



National Republicans, in elec- 
tion of 1828, 157-158 ; in elec 
tion of 1832, 231-237. 

Nature, Webster's love of, 415. 

New England, growth of popula- 
tion, 15-17 ; life in, 19-20 ; at- 
titude toward protectionism, 
170-186. 

New Hampshire, early life in, 
19-20; ratifies the Constitu- 
tion, 22. 

New Mexico, question of status 
of slavery in, 364-365, 367. 

New Orleans, Spanish consulate 
attacked, 394-395- 

Niblo's Garden, Webster's speech 
at, 282. 

Nullification, in South Carolina, 
246-255. 

Oratory, Webster's achieve- 
ments in, 417-418. 

Oregon, various claims to, 336 ; 
disputed by Great Britain and 
United States, 337-338. 

Panama Congress, Webster's 
speech on, 156. 

Phillips Exeter Academy, at- 
tended by Webster, 30-32. 

Pierce, Franklin, nominated for 
president, 397 ; elected, 408. 

Plymouth, bicentennial celebra- 
tion in 1820, 131-132; Web- 
ster's oration, 132-134. 

Plumer, William, elected gov- 
ernor of New Hampshire, 114- 

I]I 5- 
Polk, James K., nominated for 

presidency, 331 ; gives notice 

to Great Britain concerning 

Oregon, 338 ; policy during 

Mexican War, 344-354. 

Portsmouth, Webster removes to, 

65 ; fire, 87. 



430 



IJSDEX 



Randolph, John, challenges 
Webster to a duel, 108. 

Rockingham Memorial, written 
by Webster, 79-80. 

Salisbury, incorporated, 17 ; 
Webster teaches school at, 40. 

Scott, Winfield, presidential pos- 
sibility in 1848, 355; candi- 
date for presidential nomina- 
tion in 1852, 398; receives 
nomination, 404 ; defeated by 
Pierce, 408. 

Sectionalism, growth of, 199- 
202. 

Seward, William H., speech on 
Compromise of 1850, 374—375. 

Slavery, Webster's attitude 
toward, 346-349 ; proposals to 
exclude from new territory, 
350 ; questions after Mexican 
War, 363-366 ; in Compromise 
of 1850, 366-382. 

Slave Trade, provision of Treaty 
of Washington concerning, 311. 

Smith, Jeremiah, attorney in 
Dartmouth College Case, 115. 

South Carolina, " Exposition," 
203-205 ; nullification in, 246- 

2 55- 
Spain, demands reparation for 

New Orleans outrage, 394- 

395- 

Specie Circular, 280-281. 

Stevens, Ebenezer, obtains grant 
on the Merrimac, 17. 

Stevenstown, founded, 17 ; Ebe- 
nezer Webster settles at, 18. 

Supreme Court, Webster begins 
practice in, 96 ; decision in 
Dartmouth College Case, 125- 
126 ; Webster's proposal to in- 
crease membership, 144. 

Tariff, bill passed in 1816, 107- 
108 ; Hamilton's proposals 
concerning, 170; Webster's 
earlier views on, 171-172 ; the 
Baldwin bill, 173 ; Webster's 



views in 1820, 174-176; his 
views in 1824, 177-180 ; the 
Mallary bill, 181 ; act of 1828, 
182 ; Southern discontent con- 
cerning, 202-206 ; Jackson's 
attitude toward, 205-206 ; nul- 
lification in South Carolina, 
246-249 ; Compromise meas- 
ure of 1833, 250-254; report 
by Robert J. Walker, 343 ; act 
of 1846, 343. 

Tavenner, G. A., Webster's cor- 
respondence with, 400-403. 

Taylor, Zachary, in Mexican 
War, 344 ; becomes a presi- 
dential candidate, 355-357 ; 
nominated in 1848, 357; 
elected, 360 ; Webster's atti- 
tude toward, 361-363 ; death, 

375* 382. 
Texas, asks for annexation to the 
United States, 328; treaty of 
annexation, 330-332 ; Webster 
opposes annexation, 332 ; an- 
nexed by joint resolution, 334, 

336- 
Thompson, Thomas W., Webster 

studies law with, 47-48. 

Trist, Nicholas P., negotiates 

treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, 

354. 

Troup, George M., reports en- 
listment bill, 90. 

Tyler, John, nominated for vice- 
president, 290 ; becomes presi- 
dent, 297 ; breaks with the 
Whigs, 298-301; submits 
treaty annexing Texas, 330 ; 
renews proposal for annex- 
ation, 334; defends Webster, 

341. 

Upshur, Abel P., advocates an- 
nexation of Texas, 329. 

Van Buren, Martin, favored 
by Jackson as successor, 231 ; 
nomination as minister to Great 
Britain rejected, 243-244; 



INDEX 



431 



elected vice-president, 245 ; 
nominated for the presidency, 
274 ; elected president, 279- 
280 ; advocates the Independ- 
ent Treasury, 284 ; candidate 
for reelection, 291-293; fails 
of Democratic nomination in 
1844, 331 ; nominated by Free- 
Soilers in 1848, 359. 
Verplanck, G. C., reports tariff 
bill, 250. 

Walker, Robert J., report on 

the tariff, 343. 
Washington, treaty 0^309-314; 
treaty defended by Webster, 

340. 
Webster, Daniel, birth, 23 ; child- 
hood, 24 ; early attendance at 
school, 25-26 ; intellectual apt- 
ness, 27 ; makes acquaintance 
of the Constitution, 28; at 
Phillips Exeter Academy, 30- 
31 ; backwardness in declama- 
tion, 31-32; studies with Dr. 
Wood, 32-34 ; enters Dart- 
mouth, 34; studies and tastes 
in college, 36 ; procures col- 
lege education for brother Eze- 
kiel, 38-39 ; comments on poli- 
tics in 1800, 41-43; acquires 
facility in public speaking, 43- 
44 ; delivers Fourth of July 
speech at Hanover, 44 ; gradu- 
ation, 45 ; adopts profession of 
law, 47 ; studies with Mr. 
Thompson, 47-48 ; becomes 
instructor at Fryeburg Acad- 
emy, 49-50 ; resumes law 
studies, 52-53 ; goes to Boston, 
55 ; in office of Christopher 
Gore, 55-57 ; appointed to a 
judicial clerkship, 57 ; refuses 
the appointment, 58 ; admitted 
to the bar, 59 ; practices at 
Boscawen, 61-64 ; contributes 
to Boston Anthology, 62 ; re- 
moves to Portsmouth, 65 ; first 
marriage, 67 ; family life, 68 ; 



growth in professional experi- 
ence, 69; relations with Jere- 
miah Mason, 70-71 , Federal- 
ist sympathies, 73-75 » P a ">- 
phlet on Embargo Act, 76 ; atti- 
tude toward the war of 1812, 
77-79 ; author of the Rocking- 
ham Memorial, 79-80 ; elected 
to Congress, 81 ; member of 
Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions, 82 ; resolutions on the 
war of 1812, 84-88; property 
destroyed by lire, 87 ; speaks 
on extension of rules of war, 
89; on an enlistment bill, 91- 
93; and on repeal of embargo 
of 1813, 94-96; begins prac- 
tice in Supreme Court, 96 ; at- 
titude toward Hartford Con- 
vention, 98 ; opposes the war 
taxes, 99-100 ; and a draft 
project, 100; participates in 
debate of the Bank question, 
102-103 ; opposes tariff of 
18 16, 107-108; challenged to 
a duel by John Randolph, 108 ; 
supports Calhoun's Bonus Bill, 
109 ; retires from Congress, 
109 ; removes to Boston, ill; 
becomes involved in Dart- 
mouth College Case, 115-116; 
prepares to argue case before 
Supreme Court, 117-118; ar- 
gument of the case, 1 19-124; 
victory, 125- 1 26; participates 
in amendment of constitution 
of Massachusetts, 1 26-13 1 5 de- 
livers oration at Plymouth, 1 3 1 — 
134; reelected to Congres>, 
135-136; chairman of Judi- 
ciary Committee, 137 ; speaks 
in behalf of Greek independ- 
ence, 139-143 ; proposes in- 
crease of membership of Su- 
preme Court, 144- 145 ; procures 
passage of Crimes Act, 146; 
supports Cumberland Road 
Bill, 147-148; political incli- 
nations in 1822-1824, 148- 



43; 



INDEX 



151 ; objections to congres- 
sional caucus, 152 ; forecast of 
Adams's policy, 153-155 ; de- 
fends Adams's administration, 
155-156; prosecutes Spanish 
claims, 158 ; delivers first 
Bunker Hill oration, 159-160 ; 
and eulogy on Jefferson and 
Adams, 160- 161 ; visits Vir- 
ginia, 162 ; and Niagara Falls, 
162; elected to the Senate, 
165; death of wife, 166-167 ; 
early views on the tariff, 17 1- 
172 ; speech of 1824, 177-180 ; 
supports protectionism in 1828, 
182-186; tendered dinner at 
Boston, 187-189; supports 
Adams for reelection, 190- 191 ; 
sues Theodore Lyman for 
libel, 191-194; death of 
brother Ezekiel, 196-198 ; sec- 
ond marriage, 199 ; first speech 
on Foote's Resolution, 208- 
210; the "Second Reply " to 
Hayne, 211-222; effects of 
the debate, 223-226 ; speeches 
published, 227 ; begins auto- 
biography, 227-228 ; partici- 
pates in the Knapp trials, 228 ; 
attitude toward Antimasonic 
party, 233 ; tendered a dinner 
in New York, 234 ; advocates 
rechartering of the Bank, 238- 
239 ; discusses the powers of 
the Executive, 240-242 ; re- 
ports on reapportionment of 
representatives, 244-245 ; 
speaks at Worcester, 248 ; sup- 
ports Jackson's course against 
nullification, 250 ; replies to 
Calhoun, 252-254 ; makes visit 
to Middle West, 256 ; becomes 
chairman of Senate Committee 
on Finance, 260 ; defends 
Clay's resolution censuring 
Jackson, 262-264 ; speaks on 
the French spoliation claims, 
266-268 ; speaks on the power 
of removal from office, 26S- 



270 ; opposes Benton's Ex- 
punging Resolution, 270-27 1 ; 
presidential candidate in 1836, 
275-280 ; proposes to retire 
from public life, 281 ; speaks 
at Niblo's Garden, 282 ; again 
visits the West, 283 ; opposes 
the Independent Treasury, 
284 ; visits England, 286-288 ; 
participates in campaign of 
1840,291; appointed secretary 
of state, 295 ; resigns seat in 
Senate, 296 ; refuses to join 
colleagues in retiring from cab- 
inet, 300-301 ; settles the Mc- 
Leod affair, 306-307 ; nego- 
tiates treaty of Washington, 
309-314 ; speaks in defense of 
his course, 315 ; retires from 
the cabinet, 315 ; life at Marsh- 
field, 317-319 ; financial pres- 
sure, 319-320 ; delivers second 
Bunker Hill oration, 320-322; 
visits Rochester, N. Y., 323 ; 
urged for presidential nomina- 
tion in 1843-1844, 323-327; 
detects plan for annexation of 
Texas, 329-330 ; takes part in 
campaign of 1844, 33 2 > re " 
turns to the Senate, 334 ; op- 
poses Texan annexation, 335 ; 
urges 49 as Oregon boundary, 
338-339 ; attacked by Inger- 
soll, 339-342 ; accepts an an- 
nuity, 342 ; opposes conduct of 
the war with Mexico, 345-346, 
353-354; opposition to slavery, 
346-349; visits the South, 352 ; 
death of son Edward, 353; 
death of daughter Julia, 355 ; 
fails to obtain presidential 
nomination in 1848, 355-357 ; 
participates reluctantly in cam- 
paign, 359-360; attitude 
toward Taylor Administration, 
361-362; Seventh of March 
speech, 368-374 ; criticized by 
anti-slavery leaders, 376-378 ; 
merits of his course, 378-382 ; 



INDEX 



433 



becomes secretary of state in 
Fillmore's cabinet, 382-383 ; 
pleased with the adoption of 
the Compromise measures, 384- 
385 ; insists upon the finality 
of the Compromise, 385-387 ; 
refused the use of Faneuil Hall, 
387 ; speeches at Buffalo, 388- 
389 ; at Albany, 389 ; and at 
Capon Springs, 389; delivers 
address at laying of corner- 
stone of addition to the Capitol, 
389 ; letter to Baron Hlilse- 
mann, 390-393 ; participates in 
reception of Louis Kossuth, 
392-393 ; adjusts controversy 
over attack on Spanish con- 
sulate at New Orleans, 394- 
395 ; candidacy for Whig nom- 
ination in 1852, 398-399; cor- 
respondence with Tavenner, 
400-403 ; fails to receive the 
nomination, 403-406; inde- 
pendent tickets put in the field, 
406 ; disappointment, 407- 
408 ; in physical decline, 408- 
410; death, 411 ; burial, 411- 
412; weaknesses of the man, 
412-413; physical aspects, 
413-414 ; hospitality and love 
of humor, 414 ; interest in Na- 
ture, 415 ; patriotism, 415- 
416; intellectual power, 416- 
417 ; oratorical skill, 417-418; 
qualities of statesmanship, 419- 
420. 
"Webster, Ebenezer, birth, 17 ; 
early life, 18; settles at Stevens- 
town (Salisbury), 18-19; per- 
sonal appearance, 19-20 ; sec- 
ond marriage, 20 ; in the 
Revolution, 21 ; in civil office, 
21-22; children, 20, 23; re- 
moval to Elms Farm, 23 ; 
elected judge, 29 ; sends Daniel 
to college, 29-34 ; consents to 



a college education for Ezekiel, 
38-39; failing health, 61 ; 
death, 64. 

Webster, Edward, death, 353. 

Webster, Ezekiel, birth, 23 ; pre- 
pares to enter college, 37-39 ; 
need of money, 50-51; finds 
temporary employment in Bos- 
ton, 54; takes over Daniel's 
interests in Boscawen, 65 ; at- 
titude toward candidacy of 
Adams, 150-151, 153; nomi- 
nated to Congress, 196; death, 
196-198. 

Wentworth, Benning, governor of 
New Hampshire, 17. 

Wheelock, John, dismissed from 
presidency of Dartmouth Col- 
lege, 114. 

Whig Party, origins, 229-230, 
275 ; in election of 1836, 275- 
280 ; nominates Harrison and 
Tyler, 290 ; in campaign of 
1840, 290-294 ; difficulties 
while in power, 297-301 ; de- 
clining fortunes, 302-303 ; 
nominates Clay in 1844, 330 ; 
opposes annexation of Texas, 
332; triumph in 1848, 355- 
360; loses ground in 1S50- 
185 1, 396 ; nominates Scott for 
the presidency, 403-404 ; dis- 
ruption and defeat, 407-408. 

Wilmot, David, introduces anti- 
slavery provisos, 350. 

Wirt, William, in Dartmouth 
College Case, 118-119; Anti- 
masonic candidate for the 
presidency, 235-236. 

Wood, Rev. Samuel, helps | 
pare Webster for college, 32- 

34- 

Woodward, William II., case of 

Dartmouth College against, 
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